China: The Chinese city of Tianjin barred nearly 2.1 million residents imposing lockdown across three districts of the province. The decision stems from the recent surge in the city which recorded 137 infections in the past 24 hours.
After detecting the Omicron variant on January 9th, the municipal corporation tightened restrictions halting movement in the above districts where cluster outbreak was reported. Adding to the already existing curbs, local authorities suspended operations at educational institutions. As many as 22 million of the four Chinese cities are under lockdown due to the outbreak.
Earlier during the day, China sent three individuals to prison for upto four years over breaches of rules that led to the outbreak. This emerges as one of the harshest punishments for lapses in enforcing the govt’s COVID-Zero Policy. Infecting nearly 83 others, four workers at a cargo company in Dalian were accused late Tuesday, to violate the norms.