China’s capital of Beijing reported a new local case of Covid-19 on Saturday, three weeks before the Winter Olympics are scheduled to be held in the city.
The person has been living and working in the tech and university hub of Haidian in the city’s northwest, according to a WeChat post from the Haidian district government.
The capital city’s health authority confirmed the detection of the highly contagious strain at a press conference Saturday night. People who’ve had contact with the patient are being tested, and those who were at locations that the infected person visited must report to authorities, they said.
Beijing has sealed up the patient’s residential compound and workplace. As of Saturday evening, 2,430 samples have been collected for testing from people linked to the two locations.
Omicron cases were confirmed earlier Saturday in Shanghai and Guangdong province, as the National Health Commission warned of possible outbreaks in those areas.
Beijing’s neighboring city of Tianjin has also reported local cases of the omicron variant of Covid-19 over the past few weeks. China added 104 local Covid-19 cases on Friday as areas including Xi’an, Tianjin, Zhengzhou and Shenzhen locked down residential buildings.
The Winter Olympics start Feb. 4 in Beijing. The nation has pledged to put on a “simple, safe and splendid” games.
Bloomberg contributed to the story
Contact reporter Zou Manyun (manyunzou@caixin.com) and editor Flynn Murphy (flynnmurphy@caixin.com)
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