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Omicron creeps towards Beijing ahead of Olympic Games - Asia Times
▻https://asiatimes.com/2022/01/omicron-creeps-towards-beijing-ahead-of-olympic-games

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Omicron creeps towards Beijing ahead of Olympic Games
Highly contagious variant discovered in nearby Tianjin, raising new doubts about the viability of China’s ‘zero Covid’ policy
China is scrambling to contain a new viral wave as Tianjin, a port city near the capital Beijing, was hit over the weekend by the highly infectious Omicron variant less than one month before the Winter Olympics commence on February 4.Tianjin reported two Omicron cases on Saturday morning involving two women who worked at a children care center and school. By Sunday, the city with a population of 14 million situated just 30 minutes from Beijing by train had reported 21 total cases.Meanwhile, in nearby Henan province, a total of 60 cases were identified on Sunday, of which at least two in Anyang City were caused by Omicron. Health authorities said the Omicron cases in Henan and Tianjin had the same origin.China reported a total of 97 local infections on Sunday, including 15 in Shaanxi province and one in Shenzhen. In Hong Kong, dozens of local Omicron cases have been reported over the past two weeks as some flight attendants carried the virus to the city.Based on epidemiological investigations and gene sequencing results, the source of the Omicron infections in Henan has been identified as a college student who returned to the Tangyin County area of Anyang City from Tianjin’s Jinnan District on December 28.
But the arrival of Omicron on the mainland is raising hard new questions about the future viability of Beijing’s “zero Covid” policy, particularly as the nation opens its doors to thousands of foreign athletes for the upcoming Winter Olympics to be held from February 4-20.
On Monday, a commentary published on the website of the China Communist Party (CPC) Central Inspection Discipline Commission said virus outbreaks in different Chinese locales had recently made the country’s epidemic situation more complicated.Local governments should continue to contain the virus and try to stop virus spread within a time frame equivalent to one incubation period, which is about two weeks, the article said.Since Saturday, Tianjin’s local government has stopped residents from leaving the city unless they could prove their journeys were essential and they could provide a negative Covid test in the last 48 hours. On Sunday, the government said the entire population in Tianjin would undergo Covid-19 tests.Tianjin’s leaders, meanwhile, vowed to serve as a moat to protect the Chinese capital from the viral spread, according to a municipal meeting led by the city’s Communist Party Secretary cited in news reports.
At the same time, the Center for Disease Prevention and Control in Beijing said the capital city was facing domestic and external epidemic risks as people would travel more frequently later this month due to next month’s Chinese New Year, which significantly will coincide with the Winter Olympics.The Center said people must remain vigilant against Covid-19 and avoid unnecessary travel between Beijing and Tianjin.
The situation in Xi’an city has shown the policy can be porous. The local government there locked down the city from December 23 after daily infections exceeded 100 for several consecutive days. The city has so far recorded more than 2,000 cases in a gathering epidemic wave, which reports say was caused by the Delta, not Omicron, variant.Last week, the city’s epidemic situation improved as the number of cases fell below 100 per day. But the restrictions came at a cost as local residents complained about food shortages and the lack of essential medical services.Zhong Nanshan, a prominent Chinese pulmonologist, said lockdown measures in Xi’an had shown positive results despite the criticism, as the number of daily cases in the city was declining. He said he was confident that people could return to their home towns before the Chinese New Year as interprovincial travel would still be allowed later this month.Zhong added that, theoretically, China had achieved “herd immunity” as 86% of the population in China was vaccinated.However, he did not comment on the low efficacy rates of the locally-made Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines used in China compared to those applied in the West, as well as the fact that the majority of vaccinated Chinese have not received third booster shots.
Zhang Wenhong, an infectious disease expert, said Western countries have maintained relatively low death rates during the Omicron wave because their vaccination rates had reached 70-80%. But it’s not clear that will also be the case in China amid reports Sinovac is particularly ineffective against Omicron.

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Border reopening delayed as HK hit by Omicron - Asia Times
▻https://asiatimes.com/2022/01/border-reopening-delayed-as-hk-hit-by-omicron

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Border reopening delayed as HK hit by Omicron
Hong Kong’s long-awaited resumption of quarantine-free travel, or the so-called “border reopening,” with the mainland is no closer as the special administrative region has been hit by the Omicron variant.(...) The Hong Kong government has imposed some of the world’s toughest quarantine and social-distancing rules since early last year in an effort to convince Beijing to allow an early “border reopening.” Initially, the aim was to allow about 1,000 people per day to travel across the Hong Kong-mainland border without quarantine. Since July 2020, Guangdong has allowed quarantine-free travel at its border with Macau.Originally, the Hong Kong-mainland border should have been “reopened” in late December, but it was delayed due to virus outbreaks at a Hong Kong restaurant.
On December 27, a Cathay Pacific aircrew worker, who was exempted from Hong Kong’s 21-day quarantine requirements, visited the Moon Palace restaurant at the Festival Walk mall with his father after returning from the United States. He later tested positive for the Omicron strain.The man’s father, together with a construction worker who had been sitting about 10 meters away, were later found to be infected. As of Monday, a total of six people have been found to be infected in this outbreak. The Centre for Health Protection said about 340 people had been sent to the Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre, where they will stay for at least 21 days. Up to 22 staff from the Moon Palace restaurant said in a post on social media that it was unfair that they and their families had to be isolated for three weeks, while Cathay Pacific did not require its aircrew staff to stay at home after arrival.
On Saturday, Cathay Pacific said it was deeply disappointed by the fact that two of its five aircrew workers, who had recently been infected with the Omicron variant, violated the company’s isolation guidelines. It said the duo had been sacked. Michael Tien, a Roundtable lawmaker, said both Cathay Pacific and the government should be blamed for the Omicron outbreak at the Moon Palace restaurant as it was risky for newly-arrived aircrew staff to be able to walk freely on the streets. Tien said it was unlikely that the Shenzhen government would give the green light to the proposed “border reopening” with Hong Kong in the short term as it had warned about the potential risk of having incoming aircrew staff exempted from quarantine.

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