The omicron variant of the coronavirus arrives in Beijing just ahead of the 2022 Olympics. Thousands of residents in a district have to take the test.
Beijing – In just a few weeks, the 2022 Winter Olympics will begin in Beijing. After other cities, the first omicron case has now also been identified in the Chinese capital. The current corona developments are a serious test for the country, which has been pursuing a strict zero-Covid strategy since the outbreak of the corona virus – possibly starting from a market in the metropolis of Wuhan.
In addition to Beijing, at least four other parts of the country have already reported infections of the highly contagious virus variant, including the neighboring coastal city of Tianjin, as well as several cities in the provinces of Henan, Liaoning and Guangdong. Strict lockdowns have been imposed for some parts of the country. Overall, China’s authorities reported 65 corona infections on Sunday.
As the Handelsblatt reports, a number of personal information, including address and place of work, were published immediately after the positive test of the person infected with Omikron. All people who would have stayed in the same places would have to face penalties if they did not get tested, according to the government announcement, which also published a list of all whereabouts in the past few days. From 13,000 people in the Haidian district tested so far on Sunday afternoon (01/16/2022), all the results have so far been negative.
According to the AFP news agency, seven omicron cases were also reported on Friday (January 14, 2022) in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, which borders the Macau Special Administrative Region. Here, due to the country’s restrictive security policy, all 2.4 million residents have to take a corona test.
The 2022 Olympics will start in Beijing with strict corona rules
The 2022 Olympics in Beijing are scheduled to start on February 4th with a strict corona concept. In order to avoid infections outside the Olympic bubble, all participants in the sporting event will be shielded from the rest of the population. (ska with dpa)
