China reports nation's first community spread of Omicron

Beijing

CHINA saw its first Omicron cases in the community, igniting a mass testing blitz in the northern city of Tianjin as the country strives to maintain its zero-tolerance approach to Covid in the face of more transmissible variants.

The 2 cases in the port city were confirmed as being Omicron by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, after its local branch completed the genome sequencing, CCTV reported.

The infections were from the same transmission chain but officials have yet to establish if the strain is the same as imported Omicron cases reported earlier in Tianjin, according to the report.

China's commitment to its Covid Zero policy has seen it restrict movements and implement mass testing and other measures in cities spread across the country.

Further outbreaks raise the risk of new lockdown measures that could disrupt production and shipping in an economy already battling weak consumption and a property market slump. China, which is set to host the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February, has been determined to maintain Covid Zero even as cases spread and other countries adopt policies of living with the virus.

The recent flareups, while small compared to international cases, are fuelling the most protracted stretch of infections in China since the virus first emerged in Wuhan 2 years ago.

The southern technology hub of Shenzhen is discouraging people from leaving after reporting 2 infections, the eastern metropolis of Zhengzhou required all residents to be tested and Xi'an in the northwest has confined most of its population of 13 million to their homes since before Christmas.

Tianjin Municipal Transportation Commission issued a ban on inter-provincial bus services from Sunday (Jan 9), according to local media reports.

China reported 92 new local cases on Saturday, which compares to 90,000 in New York state. BLOOMBERG