China: Coronavirus outbreak in Beijing takes a bite out of F&B industry

Owner Terry Lang stands in his bar, which was closed as a precaution to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, in Beijing on June 19. All bars and restaurants in the building were closed following a new outbreak of the coronavirus. Tens of thousands of people in the Chinese capital are being tested for the contagion while neighbourhoods have been locked down and schools closed as authorities seek to contain a cluster linked to the Xinfadi food market. - AFP

BEIJING, June 22 (The Straits Times/ANN): On any given weekend, Beijing's hottest coffee shop, Metal Hands, is usually heaving with coffee snobs and young people posing for the cameras amid its industrial chic-meets-vintage surrounds.

But on Sunday (June 21), the first weekend since the municipal government notched up the city's emergency response level to the second highest, only a few tables were taken in the early afternoon while an outdoor terrace was shut because of the coronavirus outbreak.