1000s of people have been quarantined after a man in Beijing violates the quarantine and tests positive

Over the last five weeks, the Chinese capital has ordered hundreds of thousands of residents to stay at home in order to contain the city’s largest coronavirus epidemic since the pandemic began.

Officials stated on Sunday that a man in his 40s called Sun had failed to fulfil a need to isolate he was told after visiting a “high risk” retail centre.

“During the home isolation period he… went out many times and walked in the neighbourhood,” said Beijing public security official Pan Xuhong.

Sun and his wife later tested positive, prompting authorities to lock down 5,000 of their neighbours at home and send 250 to a government quarantine centre.

It comes as virus restrictions loosened in Beijing on Monday, with authorities reopening parks, museums, and theatres and proclaiming the outbreak under control.

China is committed to a zero-COVID approach of severe lockdowns, extensive testing, and lengthy quarantine periods to eliminate clusters as they form.

There are tough penalties for breaking the rules and Sun is now under police investigation.

Beijing’s Omicron-fuelled cluster has seen more than 1,700 infections since late April – a tiny number by global standards but troubling for China’s rigid approach to the virus.

The number of reported cases has declined dramatically in the last week.

“No new cases have been identified in society (outside quarantine centres) for two days,” said Xu Hejian, a spokeswoman for the Beijing administration, on Sunday.

Wu suggested a series of steps to bolster Shanghai’s virus-ravaged economy, including property tax cuts, corporate gas and electricity subsidies, and directing banks to lend more to small and medium-sized firms.

Residents allowed to leave their homes for a few hours were seen receiving haircuts and massages on the streets of Shanghai over the weekend as the city slowly reopened.

On Monday, the city reported 66 infections, while Beijing reported 12.