Virus testing the new normal as China sticks to ‘zero-Covid’

A worker wearing a protective suit swabs a woman’s throat for a Covid-19 test at a coronavirus testing site in Beijing (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

Thousands of Covid-19 testing booths have popped up on streets across Beijing and other Chinese cities in the latest twist to the country’s “zero-Covid” strategy.

Lines form every day, rain or shine, even where the spread of the virus has largely stopped. Some people need to go to work. Others want to shop.