China to Covid test 2 million people ahead of Winter Olympics

Beijing: As the Winter Olympics come to China, the Beijing city administration informed that it would test the entire two million residents of a neighbourhood for Covid-19 two weeks before the major event, Agence France-Presse reported.

The administration had detected a cluster of infections in the neighbourhood. It said that the Fengtai district in southern Beijing was found as the epicentre of a cluster of six new infections, and the number of cases in the capital reached 34. Beijing had recorded around 13 cases in the past week.

Days ago, China had instructed its postal service workers to disinfect international posts. Authorities had claimed earlier that mails could be acting as vectors, a reason for the recent surge in new Covid-19 cases. However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United States Centers for Disease Control have said that the risk of infection from contaminated surfaces is minimal.

The newly reported cases in China are a very small fraction of the ongoing surge in the global statistic of the pandemic, which is reigned by Omicron. But multiple small outbreaks in the country is challenging its strict 'zero covid' policy. The policy is still online, although many countries are gradually retracting many severe restrictions.

Beijing Games is to start on February 4, and international delegates, media and contesting athletes have already started arriving. Beijing will seal the Olympics in a bubble hosting thousands of people in a stretch of around 200 kilometres.