Beijing: Facing dual COVID-19 risks from a domestic flare-up and the raging Omicron variant overseas, Beijing tightened epidemic prevention and control measures and vowed to strictly adhere to a dynamic zero policy as Chinese New Year and the Beijing Winter Olympics approach.
Beijing’s moves came one day after Xi’an, capital city of Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, known for its Terracotta Warriors, imposed a citywide lockdown following a fresh flare-up that spilled over into six cities including Beijing.
Chinese health analysts said the local outbreak in Xi’an, which occurred around 40 days ahead of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, increases the epidemic prevention pressure for China, but with timely and precise measures, experience in quelling local outbreaks and high vaccination rate among the Chinese population and participants of the Games, China will ensure a safe international sports event.
Xu Hejian, a spokesperson from the Beijing government, said at Friday’s media briefing that Beijing had revised its COVID-19 prevention and control measures, calling on residents to spend the upcoming holidays, New Year’s Day and Spring Festival, in Beijing. The new measures apply to cases of locally transmitted infections in Beijing, residents in the district where reported cases are not allowed to leave the capital other than for essential reasons, and residents in the city’s townships where reported cases are restricted from leaving Beijing, Xu said.
Xu said that the Beijing government encourages companies to adopt flexible work hours and help employees avoid leaving or entering Beijing during peak periods. Anyone returning to Beijing is required to present a negative nucleic acid testing result issued within 48 hours and a green health code.
Beijing also announced the limiting of family gatherings to 10 people, and strict controls on national conferences and training events held in the city. Chinese health analysts said epidemic prevention and control was crucial for China’s political center Beijing, where the Winter Olympics will be held in February.
Wang Guangfa, a respiratory expert at Peking University First Hospital, told the Global Times on Friday that Beijing’s measures were revised promptly after assessing the risks, as the arrival of foreign delegations will add to the pressure facing the capital in preventing imported cases in light of the Omicron storm in many countries, and if locally-transmitted cases spread to Beijing triggering a local outbreak, it would be much harder for China to hold the international sports event.
The Omicron variant, which is now dominant in the US, has pushed the daily case count higher than the peak of the Delta wave, the New York Times reported on Thursday. In Europe, UK this week has been reporting the highest daily case numbers since the pandemic began.
Xi’an, which is two hours away from Beijing by airplane, has reported multiple transmission chains and unidentified hidden local community transmissions this month. The city imposed a lockdown on Thursday, just 40 days ahead of the Winter Olympics. As of late Thursday, Xi’an had reported 234 cases since December 9. Local disciplinary authorities have punished 26 people and four local Party organizations and other institutions for inadequate epidemic prevention efforts in the latest flare-up.
–The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
