BEIJING — The number of
COVID-19 cases in China reached its highest level since
March 2020 on Monday, as
Beijing races to smother outbreaks just three weeks
before hosting the Winter Olympics.
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China,
where the virus first emerged in late 2019, has stuck to a strict policy of
targeting zero COVID cases even as the rest of the world has reopened.
But
its approach has come under sustained pressure in recent weeks with multiple
clusters across the country just as the Games are about to get underway in
Beijing.
On
Monday there were 223 more cases reported in China, including another 80 in the
virus-hit port city of Tianjin, and nine more — including cases of the highly
transmissible Omicron variant — in the southern manufacturing hub of Guangdong.
Athletes
and officials have already started to land in the capital ahead of the Games,
immediately entering a tightly controlled bubble separating them from the rest
of the population.
But
after a local
Omicron case was detected in Beijing over the weekend,
authorities have also tightened regulations for those arriving in the capital
from elsewhere in China.
The
city is now demanding a negative test before travel and a follow-up test after
entering the city, with residents urged not to leave the city for the upcoming
Lunar New Year holiday.
Some
tourist sites in the capital have also been closed.
Strain
on economy
The
infected woman in Beijing had not traveled or had contact with infected people,
authorities said, as they tested some 13,000 people living or working in the
same area.
Health
official Pang Xinghuo told reporters Monday the virus had been found on the
surface of a letter the infected person had received from Canada, as well as
inside the unopened letter.
Dozens
of letters from the same batch were tested, and five showed positive traces of COVID
-19, she said, including samples from inside unopened letters.
The
strain was different from Omicron cases in
China, and similar to strains
identified from North America last month, she said.
"We
come to the conclusion that the possibility of virus infection through inbound
objects cannot be ruled out," she said.
Beijing's
theory the virus did not originate in China but was imported in frozen food was
judged "possible" but very unlikely in a report from World Health
Organization-appointed international experts last year.
China
has linked some virus clusters to products imported from overseas.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US says on its website that
it is "possible" for people to be infected through contact with
contaminated surfaces or objects – but the risk is low.
Within
three days, there should be a 99 percent reduction of virus traces left on
surfaces.
Analysts
have warned that China's ongoing zero- COVID approach — which includes swift
and targeted lockdowns and travel restrictions — will increasingly weigh on the
economy.
Another
68 cases were reported across central Henan province, where partial lockdowns
and mass testing have been rolled out for millions of residents.
Zhuhai,
the mainland city bordering the gambling hub of Macau, told residents to avoid
leaving and started testing the whole city from Monday, after detecting a
handful of Omicron cases.
Meanwhile
in the historic northern city of Xi'an infections have slowed to single digits
after nearly a month under lockdown.
Sixty
more imported cases were also recorded, as China maintains strict controls over
border entry including slashed flights and a "circuit breaker" policy
where routes are halted if infections brought in are too high.
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