Beijing residents stockpile food amid virus fears

Beijing residents on Monday began shopping for food and daily necessities as the city went on alert after 10 middle school students tested positive for COVID-19 during the weekend.

City officials suspended classes in the school for a week following the positive test results on Friday. The Chinese capital also reported 14 new local confirmed cases and five new local asymptomatic cases over the last 24-hour period through midnight.

Long queues were seen in supermarkets at the city center, as shoppers snapped up rice, noodles, vegetables and other produce, while store workers hastily restocked some empty shelves.

China has doubled down on the strict "zero-COVID" policy even in face of the highly transmissible omicron variant.