Health

Beijing shields itself against Covid-19 ahead of CCP meeting, Olympics

Shanghai/Beijing, Nov 5 (EFE).- Small outbreaks of the coronavirus delta variant have led to even greater restrictions than usual in China, especially Beijing, which has been shielded to avoid risks amid an important upcoming Communist Party summit and less than 100 days before the Winter Olympics.

The restrictive zero tolerance Covid-19 policy adopted by the Chinese government has been reinforced on the occasion of the sixth plenary session of the XIX Central Committee of the Communist Party in the country. The country’s capital will host the session next week less than three months before the Olympic Games opening ceremony.

With almost 800 new local infections of the coronavirus in 19 provinces since mid-October (much more than Beijing is willing to tolerate despite being figures much lower than those registered in much of the world), authorities have decided to add more sanitation measures.

They include, for example, the cancellation of activities in two central districts of Beijing – cinemas, yoga classes, concerts – while establishments such as supermarkets, bars or restaurants have once again required the scanning of quick recognition codes to facilitate tracking in case of contagion.

“We must avoid unnecessary trips,” said the capital’s health authorities, who urged people “not to attend dinners, or go to crowded places, use public transport to a lesser extent, work from home and avoid close contact with people.”

It is part of a new awareness campaign, one more, on “the seriousness of the situation” which, they say, is “at a crucial moment.”

All this at a time when the Chinese capital has 50 active cases (among a population of about 20 million people), amounting to 1,129 infected throughout the country (1.4 billion inhabitants), including the “imported,” cases, those detected in passengers from abroad.

Although 37 people are in serious condition, the death count remains at 4,636, unchanged from the report published by the National Health Commission on Jan. 26.

There are also more than 400 asymptomatic patients under observation, but China does not count them in its statistics of confirmed cases unless they manifest symptoms. EFE

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