As China readies to host Beijing Winter Olympics from February 4, Beijing has reported its first case of the highly infectious Omicron variant. While China has maintained a stoic silence over the spread of Omicron in Chinese cities, videos of the Chinese authorities locking up residents in metal boxes has flooded the Internet.
Now days before the athletes start coming to Beijing, Beijing has imposed fresh curbs to control the spread of the virus. Beijing will now require travellers to get a Covid-19 test within 72 hours of arrival in the Chinese capital. Effective from Saturday to the end of March, the new rule is “aimed to help with early detection of Omicron, which is surging globally, and the control of epidemic risks,” said Beijing Daily, a Chinese mouthpiece.
As per Taipei Times, another Chinese daily, the Omicron variant in Beijing has been detected in a person who had visited multiple malls and restaurants in the previous 14 days but had not left the city since the start of this year.
Meanwhile, the Chinese mainland has reported 163 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Monday. Out of the latest local cases, 80 were reported in Tianjin, 68 in Henan, nine in Guangdong, five in Shaanxi, and one in Guangxi. 60 new cases were recorded in 11 provincial-level regions and four new suspected cases arriving from outside the mainland were reported in Shanghai, and no new deaths from COVID-19 were reported on the day.
