Omicron outbreak worsens as Delta winds down in China’s Henan province

Growing Omicron cluster in Anyang linked to Tianjin, where China’s first cases of the new variant were reported
Outbreak in Xian, site of previous Covid-19 highs, is coming to an end, health official says

Coronavirus pandemic

Guo Rui

Published: 6:34pm, 18 Jan 2022

Why you can trust SCMP

The central Chinese province of Henan is battling two coronavirus variants of concern at the same time, with both Omicron and Delta reported among locally transmitted cases in outbreaks across three cities.

The province reported 102 new locally transmitted symptomatic cases on Tuesday, up from 68 a day earlier.

This came as 171 new symptomatic cases were detected across China, 127 of those locally transmitted, the National Health Commission said.

China braces as Omicron extends its reach to Beijing and Lunar New Year looms

Local transmissions outside Henan included 18 in the northern port city of Tianjin, one in nearby Beijing, and five in a single city in the southern province of Guangdong.

Xian, the capital of northwestern Shaanxi province and site of China’s previous major outbreak, reported one case.

The new case in Beijing, which is due to host the Winter Olympics in barely two weeks’ time, is a close contact of the woman confirmed infected with the Omicron variant on Saturday, local health authorities said.

02:19

Tickets to Beijing Winter Olympics will not be sold to public amid Omicron fears

The first infected person had not travelled outside the city in the 14 days before developing symptoms.

All five cases in Guangdong were found in Zhuhai, next door to Macau. No new locally transmitted cases were reported in Hong Kong’s neighbouring city of Shenzhen on Tuesday, after one Omicron infection the previous day out of a total of 17.

This came as the city of Anyang in Henan reported 94 cases in a growing Omicron cluster. Both this cluster and the one in Dalian in Liaoning province have been linked to cases in Tianjin, where China’s first two infections by the latest coronavirus variant were reported in early January.

Tougher action needed in Henan’s Omicron and Delta hotspots: vice-premier

There has been a further decline in new cases for Zhengzhou and Xuchang, the two Henan cities hit by Delta outbreaks earlier. Each reported four cases on Tuesday.

Both Omicron and Delta are classified as “variants of concern” by the World Health Organization, with the former strain currently driving global Covid-19 waves.

Anyang, home to 5.5 million people, has reported a total of 404 confirmed cases since January 8. The ancient imperial city has been under lockdown since January 10 when two cases were reported, with multiple rounds of mass screening launched since then.

00:59

Streets and trains empty in central Chinese city of Anyang as Covid-19 lockdown begins

Residents have been ordered not to leave their homes except for nucleic acid testing for Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. Vehicles have been ordered off the roads, and supermarket operations suspended except for the supply of daily necessities.

The outbreak in Anyang still posed a certain risk of community transmission, NHC official He Qinghua said on Saturday, while confirming that the outbreak in Xian was coming to an end.

Tianjin, a major port city to the east of Beijing, is still battling to curb its Omicron outbreak, though the NHC said the risk of it spreading to other cities was falling. In all, 312 confirmed cases have been reported in Tianjin since January 8.

Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan, who has been in Tianjin for the past week to guide prevention and control measures, said the city was tackling China’s first domestically transmitted outbreak caused by the Omicron variant.

However, the outbreak had been effectively contained, with the city limiting spread and spillover of the disease, state news agency Xinhua reported.