China decides new lockdowns due to COVID outbreaks

The Chinese authorities confined tens of thousands of residents of the north of the country and asked the inhabitants of the capital to limit their movements due to the rebound in COVID cases, one hundred days before the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

China identified 39 new COVID cases on Monday and more than 100 in the past week. Most of these infections were related to the movements of a group of tourists.

The Chinese government, which promotes a “zero tolerance” policy towards the virus, reacted quickly, imposing restrictions and organizing mass detection campaigns in the affected regions.

In Beijing, where the Winter Olympics are scheduled to begin on February 4, a marathon scheduled for October 31 in which some 30,000 runners were to participate was indefinitely postponed.

It was postponed “to avoid the risk of epidemic transmission”, Indicated the organizers.

A Beijing city official called on residents to avoid “unnecessary” trips out of the city and large-scale gatherings for now.

Anyone from an area where COVID cases have been identified must submit a negative test, authorities announced.

The new cases of covid-19 have been detected in eleven provinces, mostly located in the north of the country.

In Ejin, a city in Inner Mongolia in the north of the country, about 35,000 people were confined as of Monday for a period of two weeks.

In some northern cities, including Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, bus and taxi services were suspended and tourist spots closed.

On Sunday, authorities had already announced the suspension of organized tourist trips to five areas where COVID cases have been reported, including Beijing.

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