China's zero-Covid structures take on second lives

Since Beijing suddenly abandoned its hardline virus control measures in December after almost three years, cities across China have been left with tens of thousands of the temporary structures.

Some of the metal or plastic testing booths that were once ubiquitous symbols of the "zero-Covid" policy have found a new life as mini-pharmacies, shelters or information stations.

"Rather than leaving them empty, we're trying to use them in other ways, suiting the time and place," a city official from Suzhou, near Shanghai, said.

Some booths near the train station have been transformed into information points for new arrivals, offering them job opportunities or legal advice concerning work disputes.

Elsewhere in the city, booths have been repurposed by local janitorial staff to store odds and ends.

"When we came to work here this booth wasn't here yet. So our superiors bought it for us," Xu, a river cleaner, said .

"Since we don't do Covid testing anymore... they could bring it over," she said.

"After work, we use it to put our gloves and our tools in it," she added.

"And when it rains, we come to shelter there."

Local governments in China spent about 200 billion yuan ($29 billion) on the testing programme needed to keep zero-Covid going, according to banking giant Goldman Sachs, as quoted by Bloomberg.

Now they are keen to put the redundant facilities to good use.

During the Covid surge in December and January, some were converted into medical consultation stations or medicine distribution points to reduce the pressure on hospitals which were inundated with patients.

Others have since been transformed into mini-libraries where residents can exchange books.