Omicron arrived in a port city that borders Beijing and spread inland before Chinese officials detected it, seeding the highly contagious variant on the doorstep of the nation’s capital less than a month before the winter Olympics begin.
There have been 21 new locally confirmed Covid-19 infections in the city of Tianjin, after two Omicron cases were found on Saturday, leading to closed schools, halted travel and mass testing at the weekend. The steps came too late for the nearby province of Henan, itself the epicentre of a Delta outbreak, after a student believed to be infected with Omicron returned from Tianjin with the more mutated pathogen. Two cases have now been detected in Henan.
The arrival of Omicron bodes ill for China, where increasingly strict measures to eliminate the virus have failed to stamp out the less transmissible Delta. Previously isolated outbreaks are bleeding into one another, preventing the world’s most populous country from reverting to the vaunted “Covid Zero” status it maintained for much of the pandemic. The goal seems even less likely now with Omicron, which has caused infections worldwide to surge to unprecedented levels within weeks.
The two Omicron infections in Henan appear related to the country’s first two cases that were found in Tianjin, the local health commission said on Monday, based on contact tracing and genome sequencing. Nationwide, the National Health Commission reported at least 97 locally transmitted cases on Monday, including 60 in Henan and 21 in Tianjin.
Tianjin’s leaders pledged to serve as a moat to protect the Chinese capital from further spread, acting with the fastest speed and the lowest cost possible, according to a municipal meeting led by the city’s Communist Party secretary. They told the 14-million residents not to leave the city unless it’s essential in a statement on Sunday.
Tianjin is also adjacent to Hebei province, which is hosting most of the snow sports during the Winter Olympics. Sales of most train tickets to Beijing were halted, while some bus and subway lines also stopped operating.
Just 30 minutes away from Beijing via train, Tianjin is also adjacent to Hebei province, which is hosting most of the snow sports during the Winter Olympics. Sales of most train tickets to Beijing were halted, while some bus and subway lines also stopped operating. People who need to leave Tianjin are required to provide a negative Covid-19 test result taken within 48 hours.
Mass testing began across Tianjin early on Sunday, according to the state-backed Xinhua news agency. Among the 40 people who tested potentially positive, 23 are pupils in primary and middle schools, officials said. Not all of the infections have been confirmed and the underlying strains haven’t been disclosed.
“The current Tianjin outbreak has infected a higher proportion of younger age group of pupils,” Zhang Boli, a senior medical adviser to the Chinese government on Covid-19, told local media. “This might be a new trait of Omicron variant that’s worth our vigilance and response.”
The initial Omicron infections were found in a tutoring instructor and a primary school pupil, potentially explaining why the newer cases are being detected in young people. They didn’t have any known interactions, according to local media.
At least two districts in Tianjin have suspended classes, while schools in the rest of the city have been asked to hold classes online. Travel agencies have been ordered to suspend group tours.
Officials there also pledged to take care of the city’s residents, after similar crackdowns in Xi’an in the northwest led to food shortages and limited access to essential medical care.
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