China's Beijing orders widespread COVID testing, fueling fears of a lockdown.

Beijing residents are 'extremely nervous' about a Shanghai-style lockdown as authorities order COVID testing for the majority of the city's 21 million residents.

Beijing, China's capital, has launched a COVID-19 testing drive for the majority of its 21 million residents, as authorities race to contain a growing coronavirus outbreak and avoid a city-wide lockdown.

On Tuesday, Beijing reported 33 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of infections discovered in the capital to 80 since Friday. The numbers are insignificant, but authorities – who follow a zero-COVID policy – are concerned about a spiraling outbreak that has kept the commercial hub of Shanghai under strict lockdown for weeks.

Residents in the southern city have grown increasingly frustrated with the authorities' inability to meet their basic needs during the shutdown, which saw 1,600 new cases and 52 deaths on Tuesday.

On social media, people were seen leaning out of windows in Shanghai, beating pots and pans or playing "Do you hear the people sing?", a protest anthem from the musical "Les Miserables," on flutes and trumpets.

Beijing officials are hoping to avoid such a saga by acting quickly.

On Monday morning, the city's most populous district, Chaoyang, began testing. By the evening, authorities had listed ten more districts and one economic development zone for mandatory tests this week, totaling 20 million people, 16 million of whom were scheduled to be screened on Tuesday.

According to Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing, residents of the city will be subjected to three rounds of testing.

"I think that's recognition of the fact that this is the highly infectious Omicron strain, which can be difficult to catch [on the test] at times," she said.

"After those three rounds of test results are compiled over the weekend, we expect authorities to make a decision on whether there will be a lockdown or any additional restrictions imposed in Beijing on Sunday." "However, people are already extremely nervous."