In Beijing, the Beijing Municipal Health Commission has announced that all residents who buy cold medication must undergo COVID-19 testing within 72 hours of purchase.
The Commission said residents will face movement restrictions if they do not comply with the order, Fortune reported.
The testing is required of residents who purchased cold medicines to treat coughs and sore throats, along with antiviral medication, such as ibuprofen to treat headaches and fever, according to a Bloomberg report.
To control COVID-19 infections, the government of mainland China uses a contact tracing app to track citizens.
Citizens using the app will be required to submit their phone numbers and government identifications, along with a questionnaire about their travel history and current symptoms.
Every citizen is assigned a color code, which determines whether or not they are allowed to travel, or ordered to stay home.
Several cities in China have experienced COVID outbreaks over the past few weeks, including Beijing.
Officials are taking stringent measures to stop the outbreaks ahead of the Olympic Games, which begin in less than two weeks.
Chinese authorities only recently lifted the lockdown in Xi’an, a city in central China, after it trapped its 13 million residents at home for a month.
As part of the testing drive, Beijing authorities also expanded screenings in the Fengtai district, a district with more than two million residents, where most of Beijing’s recent COVID cases have been reported.
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After one positive case occurred in Uniqlo, a popular Japanese clothing chain, shoppers in Shanghai were held hostage for two days while city authorities tested them for COVID-19.
Despite China’s current situation is “controllable, the current epidemic prevention situation is still grim and complicated… the city must act proactively and swiftly,” Beijing city spokesperson Xu Hejian said.
Olympic organizers confirmed Monday that 78 athletes were infected with the disease after traveling through Beijing via the “closed-loop” travel system that separates athletes and other officials from the general public.
Hong Kong city authorities are taking steps to squelch the virus in the special autonomous region by locking down residential buildings, socially isolating the residents, and even culling hamsters and other small animals.
According to Beijing’s health commission, the “flow of people is more frequent as the Spring Festival (China’s New Year holiday, when residents usually travel home) is approaching. The Winter Olympics… are about to be held, and the epidemic prevention and control cannot be relaxed for a moment. We hereby remind the citizens to earnestly enhance their awareness and fulfill their personal responsibility for prevention and control.”
