Chinese city near Beijing on partial lockdown after omicron found

The omicron variant has been detected in the major Chinese port city of Tianjin, leading to a partial lockdown and mandatory testing of its 14 million residents less than a month before the Winter Olympics begin in nearby Beijing.

The government has divided Tianjin’s areas and residents into three levels of restrictions – lockdown, control, and prevention. Families are not allowed to leave their homes at all, while one family member per house is allowed to leave the house every other day to shop for groceries and other household items in control areas. In prevention areas, people are allowed outside but must remain in their immediate neighborhoods.

The city began mass testing all residents on Sunday after a cluster of 20 positive COVID cases were discovered, including two with omicron. This may be the first local outbreak of omicron, as previous omicron cases had been brought in from abroad.

Buses and trains from Tianjin to Beijing have been suspended.

The Tianjin outbreak poses a greater risk to Beijing and the upcoming Winter Olympic Games because of the large number of commuters who work and live in the two cities, said the state-owned Global Times. The two cities are about 70 miles (115 kilometers) apart.

The Tianjin lockdown is not as strict as those in other Chinese cities like X’ian and Yuzhou, which are struggling with large outbreaks of the previous delta variant. Residents of X’ian had been forced to barter for supplies as their lockdown continues into its third week.