<span style="color: #222222;">The Chinese capital Beijing stepped up its exit-entry barriers yesterday to contain the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, asking residents who are on domestic trips outside Beijing to put off their return plans if they have visited locations that have been reported confirmed cases during the same period. The Beijing Health Commission announced this as cases continued to climb nationally, raising concerns about the efficacy of the Zero-COVID policy. The city government is asking residents not to go out of the city when it's not absolutely necessary since the epidemic outbreak has involved 16 municipalities, provinces and autonomous regions.<br />''<br />''Beijing local government is stepping up measures as the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) is set to host its Plenary session, a high-power policy-making body from November 8-11 in which over 370 officials were expected to take part. The meeting is being held ahead of next year's party conference for a leadership change. Beijing is also gearing up to host the Winter Olympics in February next year for which hundreds of international athletes are expected to participate and the recent flare-up of cases may be a big challenge for it. Yesterday, China's National Health Commission reported 92 COVID-19 cases in the country including 59 new locally transmitted cases on Sunday. The current crisis is the second major outbreak of the highly transmissible Delta variant this year; both spread to multiple cities.<br />''<br />''Many countries have announced plans to open as part of their strategy to live with the virus. But China continues to ban travelers from India and other South Asian countries. China is one of the few still clinging to a strategy of elimination. China has strictly restricted international travel through visa bans and 21-day quarantine. Analysts and health experts are starting to ask how long it can last, and the latest outbreak which began early this month is again testing the limits. This zero-tolerance policy requires massive efforts from the entire society. Experts say that the policy of Zero tolerance for COVID is eventually turning out to be with diminishing returns. According to some media reports, public support for China's Zero COVID policy is also waning as cases continue to flare up, and the public is paying a huge price and facing great uncertainties and difficulties due to repeated lockdowns. During the summer lockdown, some high-profile Chinese public health experts began to suggest that China should consider moving towards a policy of coexisting with the virus. Their comments received some support from citizens and scientific colleagues but were drowned out by government censure.<br />''<br />''Whenever cases increase, hundreds of officials resort to testing and tracing millions of residents besides banning local flights and trains to contain the spread. For just a handful of cases, measures have included strict border closures, localized lockdowns, travel restrictions, and the mass testing of tens of millions of people. Even a single suspected case of COVID-19 caused a bullet train to be stopped midway and passengers quarantined and tested. Tourists in Shanghai Disney resort were stopped inside the resort and tested. Tourists in the northern province of Inner Mongolia are stranded there and facing great difficulties. To stop the spread of the virus, millions of people were put under closed-off management in northern Chinese cities where the recent flare-up occurred.</span><br />