China’s strict and often cumbersome Covid protocols are designed to keep athletes, officials, journalists and volunteers safe inside the “closed loop system” of Beijing’s Olympic bubble.
And outside the bubble, the Chinese government continues to impose harsh restrictions on citizens in a bid to pursue its zero-Covid strategy of managing the pandemic.
City locked down: On Monday, the southwestern city of Baise imposed a citywide lockdown, which requires 3.5 million residents to stay home.
All venues and businesses apart from essential services will be closed and public transport temporarily suspended. Residents are not allowed to leave their homes unless for grocery shopping or to take a Covid-19 test.
The citywide lockdown came into effect after Baise identified 98 preliminary positive Covid-19 cases during mass testing on Sunday, according to statements by local authorities. The government said most of the cases are under review for confirmation.
The lockdown is the latest imposed by China on an entire city, an anti-epidemic tactic first employed during the original outbreak in Wuhan two years ago.
More recently, more than 20 million people were confined to their homes for weeks over December and January in several cities across the country, including the ancient capital of Xi’an.
It is unclear when the lockdown in Baise will end.
China’s Covid cases: On Sunday, Baise confirmed 37 locally transmitted symptomatic cases, bringing the total number of infections from the outbreak to 44 symptomatic cases, according to the municipal government.
It comes as China reported 45 local symptomatic cases on Sunday, including the 37 from Baise, four in southern Guangdong province, three in Beijing and one in the northern city of Tianjin.
The country also reported 10 asymptomatic cases — which China counts separately —including five in northeastern Heilongjiang province and five in Guangxi, according to the National Health Commission.
Covid at the Olympics: The Beijing Olympic Committee on Sunday reported 10 new Games-related Covid-19 cases. Of those, four were detected among new airport arrivals and six were found inside the bubble. Six of the 10 cases involved athletes or team officials.
