China’s local Covid-19 cases at two-month low as it braces for Lunar New Year, Winter Olympics

Past two days’ tallies of 18 local symptomatic cases apiece are lowest since November, but separately 15 infections are found in Olympics ‘closed loop’
2 million tested in Fengtai district in Beijing, which has new cases, as the capital maintains caution before the Games

Coronavirus China

Cyril Ip

Published: 3:59pm, 25 Jan 2022

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China on Tuesday reported 18 local symptomatic Covid-19 infections, the same as the previous day, as it kept local cases at their lowest level since November 25.

The National Health Commission also reported two local asymptomatic cases and 52 imported cases, 27 of them symptomatic – excluding cases related to the Beijing Winter Olympics, of which 15 more were detected.

The country has begun its annual mass migration for Lunar New Year, and is intensifying efforts to contain any outbreaks before the Olympics, which begins next week.

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Dozens of positive Covid cases found in Beijing Olympic bubble and airport ahead of Winter Olympics

The municipality of Beijing has been on high alert, checking the health codes of anyone entering from elsewhere in China and keeping Olympic participants in a “closed loop” to minimise the risks after outbreaks of the Omicron and Delta variants in the capital.

The city accounted for five of the new symptomatic local cases, with four of them found in the Fengtai district, which on Tuesday was testing all of its 2 million residents.

There was also one case in the neighbouring Hebei province, whose city of Zhangjiakou will co-host the Winter Games.

As of Sunday, 78 cases had been found among Olympics-related arrivals in testing of athletes, team officials, journalists and Games partners.

On Tuesday, 15 more were reported, with 12 testing positive at Beijing Capital International Airport and three found in daily testing at the Olympic Village.

Separately, the city of Tianjin, which is less than an hour’s train journey from Beijing, was down to only one local symptomatic case on Tuesday, and adjusted its list of at-risk places, which categorises neighbourhoods according to their Covid-19 situation. Most were downgraded from high-risk to medium and low-risk.

Xian, which has been under a citywide lockdown but has recorded no new cases since Thursday, has removed some of its restrictions. Normal operation of transport has resumed, and shopping malls and restaurants were allowed to reopen, although some were still subject to capacity and social distancing rules.

Meanwhile, the far-western region of Xinjiang had six of the remaining cases announced on Tuesday, while Henan province, in central China, had three.

People across the country have been urged to minimise their travel during the Spring Festival, with some places requiring arrivals to enter quarantine if they have travelled from areas classed as high or medium-risk.