[ad_1]
The case of the first local transmission Omicron has been detected in the Chinese capital, Beijing, authorities say, just weeks before the Winter Olympics.
State television reported on Saturday that a new COVID infection had been identified as Omicron strain.
Laboratory tests found “specific mutations in the Omicron variant” in the person, a disease control official in the city of Pang Xinghuo said in a previous news release.
According to the announcement, the city of southern Zhuhai imposed restrictions on travel to residents and a day later, a massive test found seven infections.
Millions of people across the country have been ordered to stay home in recent weeks, with many domestic flights canceled and factories closed as the country tries to control small outbreaks of coronavirus, including several of the Omicron variant. Olympic Games, will begin on February 4th.
Despite these restrictive measures, Jules Boykoff, a professor and head of the policy and government department at Pacific University, warned that it would be difficult to sustain the spread of Omicron among athletes.
“It simply came to our notice then [the spread of the virus] to some extent, but we saw similar measures around the Tokyo Olympics, which happened a few months earlier, and still, with them, more than 800 cases arose within the so-called Olympic bubble, ”Boykoff said.
“So for the sake of transmissibility [of Omicron] We have serious problems with the Beijing Olympics, ”he added.
A case of a local transmission Omicron was found in the Haidian district of the capital, home to many technology companies, a city official said in a press conference that Beijing’s violation of COVID-19 protected defenses is rare.
Authorities are testing the patient’s residence and the rest of the office building, and have restricted access to 17 places associated with the infected person, Pang said.
Beijing has long banned cases from reporting places in the country, requiring all arrivals to provide final COVID-19 test reports. Residents have also been asked not to leave the city for the spring holidays in recent weeks.
On Friday, the coastal city of Zhuhai, bordering the Macau Playground, said Omicron was detected in a mild patient and six symptomatic patients.
Zhuhai officials have urged residents to avoid leaving the city “unless necessary”, leaving those who must show negative results of the COVID test within the previous 24 hours.
The city launched a massive 2.4 million population test on Friday, after a COVID case was detected in Zhongshan district earlier this week.
Beauty salons, ticket rooms, gyms and cinemas were ordered to close businesses on Thursday, and authorities announced the suspension of public bus routes in some parts of the city.
China has kept COVID-19 cases relatively low during the pandemic, with a zero-tolerance strategy to prompt immediate testing of massive tests and severe blockages when infections are detected.
Stronger blockades have been imposed on smaller Chinese cities, while millions have been ordered to stay home and tested, while economic centers such as Shanghai and Beijing have only blocked and tested specific neighborhoods in more specific efforts.
But the rapidly spreading Omicron variant has tested this strategy in recent weeks, before expanding to the central city of Anyang, which appeared in the port city of Tianjin near Beijing.
Mi Feng, a spokesman for the National Health Commission, told reporters on Saturday that the country was facing a “double challenge” from the Delta and Omicron strains of the virus.
He warned that regions that had not yet seen an outbreak “should not be reassured” by their preventive measures and “strengthen risk audits”.
[ad_2]
Source link
