Beijing’s busiest train station was unusually quiet on Saturday as authorities tightened travel restrictions due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in China’s capital. Footage shows reduced numbers of travellers waiting at Beijing West Railway Station, despite the ‘Golden Week’ holiday – typically one of China’s busiest travel periods. Faced with the highly transmissible Omicron variant, Chinese officials have doubled down on their zero-COVID policy, tackling virus clusters through mass testing and lockdowns, among other measures. Labour Day Golden Week begins on May 1 and lasts five days – it was reintroduced in 2019 after its discontinuation in 2007.