A Beijing resident named San ignored "an order for his home isolation syndrome and repeatedly went out and walked in the neighbourhood."

Subsequently, San and his wife were found injured, prompting the authorities to impose a domestic quarantine on 5,000 of their neighbours and to transfer 250 others to a government quarantine centre.

Chinese capital authorities have ordered hundreds of thousands of residents to contaminate their homes over the last five weeks to curb the largest coronavirus outbreak since the pandemic began.

It comes as Beijing began easing restrictions on Monday as public parks, museums and cinemas reopened and declared the outbreak under control.

China's Zero COVID strategy is based on strict isolation, widespread testing and a lengthy quarantine to eliminate epidemiological epicentres.

Aggravated penalties are imposed on offenders, and the police have opened an investigation against San.

Since the end of April, Beijing has recorded more than 1,700 infections, mostly with Omicron, and although this figure is small by global standards, China's adherence to the Zero Covid strategy considers it worrying.

Last week, infections fell dramatically.

Beijing authorities spokesman Zhou Hejian said: "No new infections have been recorded in the community (outside the quarantine centres) in two days."

"The situation is stable and is improving... But the risk of bouncing back still exists. "