Millions more have been locked down as China battles the spread of Omicron.

(AFP) BEIJING – According to state media, five million residents of a central Chinese city began home confinement on Tuesday as part of a new lockdown to combat the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

As it prepares to host the Winter Olympics next month, Beijing is on high alert for new outbreaks, employing a “zero-Covid” strategy of targeted lockdowns, border restrictions, and lengthy quarantines.

While these precautions have kept the number of new cases far lower than in virus hotspots in the United States and Europe, Beijing is currently dealing with local flare-ups in a number of cities.

Millions more have been imprisoned as China battles the spread of Omicron.
(AFP) BEIJING – According to state media, five million residents of a central Chinese city began home confinement on Tuesday as part of a new lockdown to combat the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

As it prepares to host the Winter Olympics next month, Beijing is on high alert for new outbreaks, employing a “zero-Covid” strategy of targeted lockdowns, border restrictions, and lengthy quarantines.

While these precautions have kept the number of new cases far lower than in virus hotspots in the United States and Europe, Beijing is currently dealing with local flare-ups in a number of cities.

It was unclear whether the new cases were linked to the Omicron variant.

The city had already restricted outbound travel, citing the need to “ensure that the outbreak does not spread to other areas.”

At least three cities in Henan are dealing with emerging outbreaks, with Zhengzhou, the provincial capital, closing schools and kindergartens and prohibiting restaurants from accepting dine-in customers.

One million people in the city of Yuzhou were given stay-at-home orders last week.

Tianjin, a major port city only 150 kilometres from Beijing, has prohibited people from leaving without official permission, ordered the testing of all 14 million residents, and cancelled trains into the capital.

Tianjin, which is close to Winter Olympics venues in Beijing and Hebei province, confirmed 10 new locally transmitted cases following citywide mass testing.

The northern city of Xi’an is on lockdown for the third week in a row as it attempts to contain a 2,000-case outbreak.

Shenzhen, a southern tech hub just across the border from Hong Kong, has locked down some housing compounds, launched a mass-testing initiative, and closed some long-distance bus stations after logging a handful of cases in recent days.