Beijing city's COVID-19 infections rise ahead of Winter Olympics
BEIJING: Beijing reported 14 local confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday (Jan 26), the highest daily count in its current outbreak, less than two weeks before the Winter Olympics are due to commence in the Chinese capital and in neighbouring Hebei province.
The number of domestically spread infections with confirmed
symptoms in Beijing reported for Tuesday comprised more than half of the 24
such cases nationwide, data from the National Health Commission showed.
Beijing has detected a total of 55 local cases with symptoms
since Jan 15, with both the Omicron and Delta variants.
The number is significantly lower than cases elsewhere in
the world but the city has put tens of thousands of people under targeted
lockdowns and tested a few million residents to block transmission.
Beijing's moves are in line with a national guideline to
curb virus flare-ups as soon as possible, which takes on extra urgency as China
has vowed to safely host the Winter Olympics Games and prevent major outbreaks
during the Lunar New Year travel season.
Aside from Beijing, the provinces of Heilongjiang, Hebei, Liaoning, Henan, and Guangdong as well as the region of Xinjiang all reported sporadic local cases with confirmed symptoms for Tuesday, NHC data showed.
In the Horgos city of Xinjiang, two asymptomatic infected
people, detected on Sunday, were found to have contracted the Omicron variant,
state television said late on Tuesday. The two had not left the city in two
weeks and the source of the virus remained unclear.
There were no new deaths on Tuesday, leaving China's overall
death toll from the pandemic at 4,636.
As of Jan 25, mainland China had reported a total of 105,749
cases with confirmed symptoms, including both local ones and those arriving
from abroad.
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