More Chinese provinces report cases linked to Beijing clusters

BEIJIING (REUTERS, XINHUA) - The Chinese capital Beijing on Monday  (Jan 24) reported new local Covid-19 cases for the seventh straight day as flare-ups persisted ahead of the Winter Olympics Games in February, while four provinces found infections linked to clusters in Beijing.

The Beijing municipality reported six new domestically transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms for Sunday, after reporting nine a day earlier, data from the National Health Commission (NHC) showed on Monday.

Since Jan 15, the city has reported a total of 36 local symptomatic cases, according to NHC statements.

Beijing has quickly stepped up measures to block further spreading of the virus, with the Winter Olympics due to start on Feb 4, and China already in the Chinese New Year holiday travel season.

Outside of Beijing, the provinces of Shandong, Shanxi, Liaoning and Hebei have already found a total of eight infections linked to the capital.

Fengtai district in Beijing on Sunday launched blanket testing of around two million residents, while some communities in other districts have started targeted testing in key groups.

People who bought over-the-counter treatments for fever, cough, infections or dry and sore throat should do a Covid-19 test within three days upon the purchase, and should avoid going out before the test result is known, a statement published by the Beijing Municipal Health Commission said on Sunday.

Any lack of testing will be reflected in the individuals’digital health code, which “may affect travel and daily life,” the statement said.

The financial hub Shanghai detected on Monday one local case with confirmed symptoms. The individual worked at the cargo section of the Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

Cargo and passenger flights at the airport have not been affected, an executive at Shanghai Airport Group told a news briefing on Monday.

Travellers who arrive in Shanghai from overseas need to complete a seven-day “health monitoring” period following two weeks of quarantine at centralised facilities.

From Tuesday, those who have to complete the health monitoring at hotels are largely not allowed to leave their rooms, and those who have to go out for special conditions such as seeking medical services will need to ride in designated vehicles, Shanghai government said in a statement.

In the northern city of Tianjin, where an outbreak of the Covid-19 Omicron variant has been brought under control, Toyota’s joint venture complex with China’s FAW Group resumed operation on Saturday. It had been shut from Jan 10 for 11 days, a Toyota spokesperson said on Monday.

In Xi’an, capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi province, authorities on Monday cleared all areas classified as high and medium-risk for Covid-19 after more than a month’s epidemic prevention and control efforts.

The whole city has been downgraded to low risk, and all residents can travel freely with their health QR code from Monday, according to the municipal epidemic prevention and control headquarters.

The city’s traffic, as well as work and production, has fully resumed while government organs at all levels and enterprises have returned to normal since Monday, the headquarters added.

As of Sunday, the city had reported 2,053 confirmed local cases since the resurgence of the epidemic in December.

“Low risk doesn’t mean free of risk. The city will continue to strictly implement epidemic prevention and control measures,” said Liu Feng, director of the provincial centre for disease prevention and control.

Nationwide, mainland China reported 18 new locally transmitted confirmed cases for Sunday, down from 19 a day earlier. 

Of the new local infections, six were reported in Beijing, three each in Hebei and Yunnan, two in Shandong, and one each in Tianjin, Shanxi, Henan and Guangdong. 

It also reported five new domestic asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases.

There were no new deaths, leaving the death toll at 4,636.

As of Jan 23, mainland China had reported 105,660 cases with confirmed symptoms, including both local ones and those arriving from abroad.