Chinese cities tighten COVID-19 borders while Tianjin faces Omicron protests

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese cities are tightening restrictions to try to control new outbreaks of COVID-19, while Tianjin now faces a highly contagious variant of Omicron, which has now been detected in at least two other provinces.

Tianjin officials said in a press conference on Tuesday that 49 cases had been confirmed in the latest appearance. A city of 14 million people, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Beijing, is imposing new strict controls to stop the spread of the coronavirus, especially to nearby Beijing.

The city’s outbreak has been linked to cases in the city of Anyang in central China’s Henan province, where 84 infections have been confirmed since Saturday.

Residents leaving Tianjin will be forced to submit negative COVID-19 tests, with restrictions imposed by the city’s 279 checkpoints, said Liu Daogang, Tianjin’s deputy director of transportation.

The rise of Omicron in the country comes just weeks before the new Lunar New Year, the peak time for millions to travel, and Chinese cities are urging people to stop, especially as Beijing prepares to host the Winter Olympics early next month.

Zhang Boli, the government’s medical adviser, told CCTV on Tuesday that Omicron “could not be taken lightly” on Tuesday, although the symptoms were not as severe as previous variants.

China has ordered the cancellation of more than two scheduled flights from the United States after many passengers tested positive for COVID-19 when they arrived in China.

“Facing Omicron directly, we saw that the transmission speed was very fast,” Zhang Ying, an official at the Tianjin Disease Control Center, said in an interview with state television on Monday night.

“When it comes to tracing the origin of viruses or epidemiological research, the Omicron variant has led to unprecedented challenges and difficulties,” he said.

LOCAL TRANSMISSION

Tianjin confirmed the first two cases transmitted locally on Omicron over the weekend, and Zhang said 20 people were found infected in the first 24 hours.

The council has imposed travel restrictions and launched a massive test program to help prevent the spread of the variant.

China reported 192 reported cases of coronavirus nationwide as of Jan. 10 nationwide, 157 days earlier. A total of 110 were broadcast locally, 97 days earlier.

There were 87 high-density cases in Henan province, according to a statement from the National Health Commission.

A beauty salon has shut down non-essential public facilities in Zhengzhou provincial capital, such as banning eating in restaurants and allowing taxis and walking platforms to operate in quarantine areas, local officials said in a statement on Tuesday.

Anyang in Henan on Monday confirmed that two of its new cases were part of the same Omicron transmission chain in Tianjin. It is unclear how many other Omicron cases are related to Henan.

A separate Omicron infection was reported on Monday in the city of Wuxi in Jiangsu Province, on the east coast of China about 120 km (75 miles) from Shanghai. The patient traveled from Australia to Shanghai on January 5 before moving to Wuxi.

As the New Year of the Moon approaches, other regions are leaving nothing to chance.

Authorities in the southeastern city of Shenzhen closed a subway station on Tuesday and urged residents not to buy goods from high-risk countries.

The southeastern province of Hainan, a popular tourist destination, also announced that visitors should submit a negative COVID-19 test before entering.

China also reported 50 new asymptomatic cases on Monday, which it classifies as separate from the confirmed cases, more than 42.

There were no new deaths, and the death toll is 4,636. As of January 10, mainland China had confirmed 103,968 cases.