Severe restrictions have residents confined to their homes once again.

As new COVID-19 cases have begun to crop up in China’s capital city of Beijing, the city government has once again begun enacting severe restrictions and lockdowns in an effort to prevent spread. This continues the trend of China’s controversial “zero-COVID” policy, wherein any detections of COVID outbreaks are immediately met with lockdowns and tracing efforts.

As of this morning, multiple apartment buildings and businesses in Beijing have been locked down by authorities, with residents ordered to remain in their homes for an indeterminate period over the next several days.

“You constantly hear of someone going into lockdown and you have this constant feeling that you’re going to be next,” Joerg Wuttke, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, told CNBC.

In addition to the lockdowns causing severe slowing of business and stress on local workers and families, the actual efficacy of the measures is in question. Beijing has reported around 1,800 new COVID cases as of Thursday, bringing their monthly total to over 10,000.

“Initially when the [new measures] came out, we did feel somewhat positive. But now, we’re finding that interpretation varies widely,” said Jennifer Birdsong, Chengdu-based member of the EU Chamber’s Southwest China Chapter Board. “There is a great deal of variation in what may be interpreted as necessary lockdown.”

“Right now, we are also in a situation where bars, restaurants and gyms, all of them [were] closed last night,” she said.