Topline
China’s capital Beijing began a third round of mass testing of millions of its residents on Wednesday, as Covid-19 cases in the city tick up one week before it hosts the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
Key Facts
According to the Chinese National Health Commission, Beijing reported 14 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, nine of which were recorded in the Fengtai district which has emerged as the epicenter of the city’s current outbreak.
The uptick in cases prompted authorities to order Fengtai’s 2.2 million residents to undergo another round of mass testing—the third time since last weekend.
Residents in other Beijing neighborhoods are also being tested, according to the Associated Press, including anyone who purchases fever or headache medicines.
The repeated round of mass testing has led to complaints from some residents who will be required to queue outdoors for the tests in freezing daytime temperatures.
The AP report notes that the most recent mass testing announcement has faced some backlash online with people complaining about disruptions to their lives and wasting testing resources.
Big Number
78. That’s the total number of Covid-19 cases linked to the 2022 Winter Olympics that the games’ organizers have reported since January 4.
Key Background
Earlier this week, officials in Beijing introduced new measures to contain the current outbreak. Residents living in “risky areas,” including the Fengtai district, were ordered not to leave the city and avoid all mass gatherings. The mass testing and stringent measures are all part of China’s “zero tolerance” policy towards Covid-19, which seeks to completely eliminate all local spread. China has used stringent lockdowns and mass testing to stomp out emerging clusters of cases across the country in the past year. However, the emergence of the highly infectious omicron variant in Beijing—which local authorities attribute to a package arriving from Canada—may pose a significant challenge towards this effort.
Tangent
On Tuesday, the organizers of the 2022 Winter Olympics acknowledged that a “zero infections” model would be impossible to implement for the event. Instead, the organizers will attempt to ensure “zero spread,” which involves detecting and isolating positive cases quickly. Besides this, the organizers also eased some of the Covid measures inside the Olympics bubble, including changing the threshold for what is considered a negative Covid-19 result. PCR tests collected from participants will now have to report a cycle threshold (CT) value of 35 to be considered negative instead of 40. China had initially opted for a higher threshold despite 30-35 being widely accepted in most countries and U.S. sporting leagues like the NBA and NFL. Additionally, the required isolation time for close contacts of positive tests has been halved from 14 to seven days.
Further Reading
Beijing sees uptick in COVID cases ahead of Olympics (Associated Press)
2.2 Million Beijing Residents Undergo Third Round Of Covid-19 Tests Before Winter Olympics https://ift.tt/3u8DUkq