China tests 2M in Beijing, lifts COVID lockdown in Xi’an

byJohn Smith •
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BEIJING (AP) — Lower than two weeks earlier than the opening of the Winter Olympics, a couple of dozen COVID-19 instances in Beijing have prompted authorities to check thousands and thousands of individuals within the capital and lengthen that to anybody shopping for chilly drugs.

The robust new measures got here at the same time as town of Xi’an, a serious vacationer vacation spot that's the dwelling of the Terracotta Warrior statue military, lifted a lockdown Monday that had remoted its 13 million individuals for a month.

Greater than 3,000 individuals have arrived for the Video games since Jan. 4, together with over 300 athletes and group officers, plus media and different individuals, organizers mentioned Monday. To date, 78 individuals have examined constructive, together with one who was an athlete or group official.

These discovered to be contaminated are despatched to an isolation middle or a hospital, relying on their situation.

Officers in Beijing undertook testing of the Fengtai district’s 2 million residents, the place nearly all of the capital’s 40 coronavirus instances since Jan. 15 have been discovered.

Beijing authorities have additionally introduced that anybody who buys or who has purchased fever, cough or sure different medicines prior to now two weeks must take a COVID-19 check inside 72 hours.

The far-reaching precautions, regardless of a comparatively low variety of instances, illustrate the acute concern of presidency officers within the run-up to the Olympics, which open in Beijing on Feb. 4.

“The present epidemic prevention state of affairs remains to be grim and sophisticated, and all departments throughout town should act proactively and swiftly,” Beijing metropolis spokesperson Xu Hejian mentioned.

“The general state of affairs is controllable,” he added.

The ruling Communist Celebration has lengthy pursued a “zero tolerance” COVID-19 coverage that has introduced drastic efforts to stamp out any indicators of recent outbreaks. However with the strategy of the Olympics, that coverage has change into even stricter.

A volunteer sporting a face masks to assist defend from the coronavirus checks the identify record as residents line up throughout a mass coronavirus testing at a faculty in Fengtai District in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. Chinese language authorities have lifted a monthlong lockdown of Xi'an and its 13 million residents as infections subside forward of the Winter Olympics. In the meantime, the two million residents of 1 Beijing district are being examined following a sequence of instances within the capital.

  • A volunteer wearing a face mask to help protect from the coronavirus checks the name list as residents line up during a mass coronavirus testing at a school in Fengtai District in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. Chinese authorities have lifted a monthlong lockdown of Xi'an and its 13 million residents as infections subside ahead of the Winter Olympics. Meanwhile, the 2 million residents of one Beijing district are being tested following a series of cases in the capital.
  • Residents wearing face masks to protect from the coronavirus line up for the coronavirus testing at a school in Fengtai District in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. Chinese authorities have lifted a monthlong lockdown of Xi'an and its 13 million residents as infections subside ahead of the Winter Olympics. Meanwhile, the 2 million residents of one Beijing district are being tested following a series of cases in the capital.
  • Volunteers wearing face masks to help protect from the coronavirus check name lists at a coronavirus testing facility at a school in Fengtai District in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. Chinese authorities have lifted a monthlong lockdown of Xi'an and its 13 million residents as infections subside ahead of the Winter Olympics. Meanwhile, the 2 million residents of one Beijing district are being tested following a series of cases in the capital.
  • People wearing face masks to help protect from the coronavirus cross an intersection in Fengtai District in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. Chinese authorities have lifted a monthlong lockdown of Xi'an and its 13 million residents as infections subside ahead of the Winter Olympics. Meanwhile, the 2 million residents of one Beijing district are being tested following a series of cases in the capital.
  • Pedestrians wearing face masks to help protect from the coronavirus wait to cross an intersection in the Central Business District of Beijing, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. A fresh outbreak in Beijing has prompted authorities to test millions and impose new measures two weeks ahead of the opening of the Winter Olympics, even as Chinese officials on Monday lifted a monthlong lockdown on the northern city of Xi'an and its 13 million residents.
  • Security personnel stand watch as masked people gather in line for coronavirus testing in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. Chinese authorities have lifted a monthlong lockdown of Xi'an and its 13 million residents as infections subside ahead of the Winter Olympics. Meanwhile, the 2 million residents of one Beijing district are being tested following a series of cases in the capital.
  • Volunteers help women enter information on their smartphones as others gather in line for mass coronavirus testing in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. Chinese authorities have lifted a monthlong lockdown of Xi'an and its 13 million residents as infections subside ahead of the Winter Olympics. Meanwhile, the 2 million residents of one Beijing district are being tested following a series of cases in the capital.
  • Samples are taken from people at a mass coronavirus testing site in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. Chinese authorities have lifted a monthlong lockdown of Xi'an and its 13 million residents as infections subside ahead of the Winter Olympics. Meanwhile, the 2 million residents of one Beijing district are being tested following a series of cases in the capital.
  • Medical workers prepare for work at a mass coronavirus testing site in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. Chinese authorities have lifted a monthlong lockdown of Xi'an and its 13 million residents as infections subside ahead of the Winter Olympics. Meanwhile, the 2 million residents of one Beijing district are being tested following a series of cases in the capital.
  • In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, staff members wearing face masks hold giant panda cubs as they make a group appearance at the Shenshuping base of China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas in Wolong in southwestern China's Sichuan Province, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. Giant panda cubs born in 2021 were brought out on Monday for an event to mark the upcoming Lunar New Year.

Total, the variety of reported new instances has been falling in China from greater than 100 a day on the peak of the Xi’an outbreak to 18 on Sunday, six of which had been in Beijing.

Forward of the Video games, all individuals will probably be examined each day and saved remoted from the general public. Visiting athletes are required to be vaccinated or bear a quarantine after arriving in China.

Ben Cowling, a public well being professional at Hong Kong College, mentioned COVID-19 infections nonetheless might leak out of the Olympic bubble.

“I'd estimate there's a good probability of not less than one lockdown being applied in Beijing within the coming month,“ he mentioned.

The federal government advised individuals in areas of Beijing deemed at excessive threat for an infection to not depart town. Quite a lot of close by provinces reported instances linked to the outbreaks within the capital.

Beijing officers mentioned an omicron cluster that contaminated six individuals had been introduced underneath management. The Fengtai outbreak is delta-driven, and Chinese language well being officers say it's linked to imported frozen meals.

Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Heart for Illness Management, mentioned gene sequencing of virus samples from the frozen meals was in keeping with that in 28 contaminated individuals. International consultants are skeptical that COVID-19 can unfold simply from packaging.

Entry to Xi’an was suspended Dec. 22 following a delta outbreak. Greater than 2,000 individuals had been contaminated within the metropolis, which is about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) southwest of Beijing.

Different outbreaks have prompted the federal government to impose journey bans on quite a few cities, together with the port of Tianjin, about an hour from Beijing.

The stiff laws are credited with stopping main nationwide outbreaks. China has reported comparatively few instances of the extremely infectious omicron variant.

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Related Press author Huizhong Wu in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed.

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