Beijing calls for less holiday travel at the Olympics to reduce the risk of COVID at the Olympics

BEIJING (Reuters) – The city of Beijing on Saturday said it had warned residents not to leave during a major holiday season in early 2022 as part of efforts to reduce the risk of coronavirus while the Winter Olympics take place.

The Chinese capital wants to “successfully organize zero local infection, the Winter Olympics and the Paralympic Winter Games and ensure that the public has a happy, peaceful and peaceful holiday,” it said in a statement.

In addition to encouraging people not to travel unnecessarily out of the city, he will call for some networking gatherings, the statement said.

Along with Beijing, the northern provinces of Hebei, which will host the Games, and other cities have issued similar remarks.

Wu Shiping, an official at China State Railway Group, said in a statement on Saturday that he expects the number of train passengers to rise “relatively large” in the 40-day travel season for the New Year’s Moon compared to 2021 levels, which will be challenging. COVID-19 prevention work.

In the days before the pandemic, the period of travel was described as the largest annual migration in the world, with hundreds of millions of migrant workers returning to their homelands.

Liang Wannian, a National Health Commission official, said there should be no single rule for the whole of China and that local governments should balance the need to reunite people with their families with COVID-19 control.

But Beijing’s cities and regions at higher risk for viruses, such as border cities and ports, should have stricter rules, he said. Higher-risk groups, such as the elderly, should also avoid unnecessary travel and reunions, Liang added.

The number of recent COVID-19 cases in China is low compared to many countries, and daily cases are less than a hundred cases of local transmission confirmed by symptoms.