Hong Kong: China is just two weeks from the 2022 Winter Olympics’ opening ceremony, but Beijing is tightening COVID-19 controls after a coronavirus infection caused by the Omicron variant was detected there. The Chinese capital is locking down areas visited by the person who tested positive. People were seen moving bedding and pillows into an office building where the infected person’s colleagues had been locked down. According to a report, dozens of staff members inside the Beijing office building have been in lockdown since 10 p.m. local time on Saturday.
While the Chinese capital has not gone into full lockdown, all inbound travellers are now required to get an additional COVID-19 test within 72 hours of arriving in the city, per a report from Beijing Daily. Travellers to the city had already been required to test negative for COVID-19 within 48 hours before leaving for the city. Beijing reported its Omicron case on Saturday. According to reports, the infected person’s residential compound and workplace are under lockdown. Beijing detected the Omicron infection less than a week after Tianjin, a neighbouring northern city, detected 97 COVID-19 cases in the city and subjected its entire population of 14 million people to compulsory COVID-19 testing.
China’s COVID-zero pandemic response involves swift lockdowns after COVID-19 infections are detected. The Beijing Olympics are scheduled to begin on February 4th. The country plans to implement a “closed-loop” bubble, in which athletes, officials, broadcasters, and journalists may move only within designated locales. The Associated Press reported that athletes would be required to take daily COVID-19 tests and spectators wouldn’t be allowed to chant when cheering on the athletes and would be restricted to clapping.