Set to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Beijing is not just facing a threat boycott by the USA and European nations over human rights issues. COVID threat also looms large on the Games as the Chinese Capital has reported the highest number of cases in a single day in more than 18 months.
Beijing, all set to become the first ever city to host both the Summer and the Winter Olympic Games, on Sunday reported 34 new COVID cases. This according to the National Health Commission (NHC) is the city’s highest since June 2020.
The city will host the Winter Games opening ceremony in five days. The Games will be held in a strict “closed-loop” bubble. China has adopted a zero-COVID strategy of targeted lockdowns, border restrictions and lengthy quarantines.
There were reports that authorities in Beijing were forcibly holding up COVID patients and their contacts, families in container boxes, which only had beds and a toilet, something akin to a jail.
City authorities, according to news agency AFP, have locked down some housing compounds, while officials in Fengtai district, where most of Sunday’s infections were detected, have begun testing around 2 million people for the virus.
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The upcoming Lunar New Year, which is China’s biggest national holiday, holds a bigger threat of virus spread as millions of people return to their hometowns and mingle with family and friends.
The Olympics bubble separates everyone involved in the Games from the wider Chinese population to curb the risk of infections leaking out. The estimated 60,000 people inside the bubble are subject to daily testing.
On Sunday, organisers reported 34 new cases related to the Games, bringing the total to more than 200 since the bubble was sealed on January 4.
The new infections include 16 people who are either athletes or team officials, who tested positive either on arrival at the airport or inside the closed loop.
The NHC said Sunday there were 54 new local cases nationwide, as the wealthy eastern city of Hangzhou and the city of Suifenhe in northeastern Heilongjiang province emerged as potential hotspots.
Chinese authorities locked down an area neighbouring Beijing this week following a handful of reported cases, appearing not to publicly announce restrictions that have confined around 1.2 million people in Xiong’an New Area to their homes.
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