BEIJING | China reported new cases of the highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19 on Monday, as the country faces several outbreaks less than a month from the Beijing Olympics.
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Since the start of the epidemic, the authorities have applied a “zero COVID” strategy which consists of doing everything to limit the appearance of new cases as much as possible.
However, sporadic rebounds have been occurring regularly in recent months and the country is redoubling its vigilance as the Winter Olympics approach (February 4-20).
In Xi’an (north), 13 million inhabitants are in their third week of confinement, a measure taken after the appearance of dozens of cases at the end of December.
And since this weekend, a new outbreak has worried the authorities in Tianjin, a large port city located about 100 km southeast of Beijing.
Several cases this weekend are linked to the Omicron variant, which was first detected in China last month in the same city. And 21 new cases of COVID were announced Monday in Tianjin, without the variant involved being known at the moment.
The approximately 14 million inhabitants are urged to stay at home, while a massive screening of the population is underway.
Since Sunday, residents can only leave the city with a special authorization and a negative screening test of less than 48 hours, said the town hall. “The population should not leave Tianjin unless there is a compelling reason,” she said in a statement on Sunday.
All schools are closed and rail links with Beijing have been suspended.
About 400 km to the southwest, the city of Anyang in central Henan province reported two cases of Omicron linked to the Tianjin outbreak on Monday. The locality announced in the wake that it would screen its 5 million inhabitants.
The sale of long-distance train and bus tickets from Anyang has been suspended and checkpoints have been set up on all highways out of the city, to curb the spread of the virus in the country.
China, where the first cases of COVID were discovered two years ago in Wuhan (center), has nevertheless largely controlled the epidemic on its soil.
Life has almost returned to normal since the spring of 2020 and the country has officially recorded only two deaths in over a year.