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Beijing Seals off More Residential Areas, Reports 12 Cases

A resident wearing a mask to help protect from the coronavirus walks past barricades and tents prepared for mass testing at a neighborhood in Beijing, China, Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
A resident wearing a mask to help protect from the coronavirus walks past barricades and tents prepared for mass testing at a neighborhood in Beijing, China, Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
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Beijing Seals off More Residential Areas, Reports 12 Cases

A resident wearing a mask to help protect from the coronavirus walks past barricades and tents prepared for mass testing at a neighborhood in Beijing, China, Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
A resident wearing a mask to help protect from the coronavirus walks past barricades and tents prepared for mass testing at a neighborhood in Beijing, China, Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Beijing officials said Sunday they sealed off several residential communities in the city's northern district after two cases of COVID-19 were found.

Residents in the Anzhenli neighborhood in Chaoyang district were sealed off on Saturday, and will not be allowed to leave their compound.

Beijing is on high alert as it prepares to host the Olympic Games opening on Friday, The Associated Press said.

While the cases are low compared to other countries in the region, China has double down on its “zero-tolerance” policy, which includes breaking the chain of transmission as soon as it is found.

The city is also setting up 19 points in the area to test residents every day until Friday, officials said at a briefing on the pandemic, according to state-backed Beijing News.

The Chinese capital reported a total of 12 cases of COVID-19 between 4 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday, said Pang Xinghuo, the vice head of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control. All those cases came from people who were already under some kind of pandemic control measures.

The city conducted multiple rounds of testing for millions of residents this past week in Fengtai district, where some residential compounds were locked down.

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Pro-Palestinian Activists Due to Appear Court after Damaging Planes at RAF Base

Demonstrators look on during a protest after British lawmakers voted to ban pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, outside Downing Street in London, Britain, July 2, 2025. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett
Demonstrators look on during a protest after British lawmakers voted to ban pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, outside Downing Street in London, Britain, July 2, 2025. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett
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Pro-Palestinian Activists Due to Appear Court after Damaging Planes at RAF Base

Demonstrators look on during a protest after British lawmakers voted to ban pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, outside Downing Street in London, Britain, July 2, 2025. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett
Demonstrators look on during a protest after British lawmakers voted to ban pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, outside Downing Street in London, Britain, July 2, 2025. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

Four people are set to appear in a London courtroom on Thursday over charges connected with an incident in which pro-Palestinian protesters damaged two Royal Air Force planes with red paint and crowbars.

The charges come after the group Palestine Action said two of its members entered RAF Brize Norton on June 20 and used electric scooters to approach two Voyager jets used for air-to-air refueling. The protesters used repurposed fire extinguishers to spray paint into the planes’ jet engines and caused further damage with crowbars, according to the group, which released video footage of the incident, The Associated Press said.

The four, all between the ages of 22 and 35, are charged with conspiracy to commit criminal damage and conspiracy to enter a prohibited place for purposes prejudicial to the interests of the UK, counter-terror police said in a statement. The Crown Prosecution Service will argue that that the offenses have a “terrorist connection,” police said.

Palestine Action has claimed responsibility for a series of incidents targeting Israeli defense contractors in the UK and other sites linked to the war in Gaza. Following the incident at RAF Brize Norton, the government introduced legislation to ban Palestine Action as a terrorist organization. The measure means it will be a criminal offense to belong to or support the group, with a maximum of 14 years in prison.

Palestine Action rejects that assertion, saying its protests are designed to end international support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

Planes from Brize Norton, 70 miles (112 kilometers) northwest of London, regularly fly to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, Britain’s main air base for operations in the Middle East.