China racing against time to stamp out Beijing Covid outbreak ahead of next week’s Winter Olympics

China is racing against time to stamp out a Covid outbreak in the capital Beijing before the Winter Olympics next week.

Chinese authorities on Thursday imposed severe restrictions on movement between various areas in the capital. Officials in Fengtai district, south of Beijing, ordered residents to avoid going out for unnecessary reasons, and to test every day.

Fengtai has reported the highest number of cases during a current Beijing outbreak and had already locked down thousands of its residents. On Sunday, the neighbourhood said it would organise Covid-19 nucleic acid tests for all of its residents after reporting new cases.

The Winter Olympics start in Beijing on 4 February.

China has generally managed to keep the pandemic at bay compared with global infection rates. But cases started to rise throughout last month, reaching 361 confirmed infections on 27 December, the highest in a single day since early 2020.

Late on Wednesday, Beijing reported 75 new infections – a massive outbreak by China’s standards – which alerted officials trying to maintain the country’s now-famous “zero-Covid” policy throughout the games.

The stringent measures are sometimes seen as too strict. But they reflect concerns among officials worried that a similar outbreak to the one Japan suffered from during the Summer Olympics held six months ago would hit China.

For example, Sanhe city, a few kilometres away from Beijing’s central business district, suspended all bus lines and closed communities in seven regions on Wednesday morning after reporting only one new Covid infection, according to Chinese tabloid Global Times.

Olympic visitors will be asked about their Covid history and present vaccination proof upon their arrival. If they show any symptoms, they will be taken to hospitals or quarantine hotels on designated buses.

They will then join an isolated Covid bubble, where they will be able to travel between their residence to sports venues according to a set of travel rules until the end of the games.

All participants in the bubble, or the “closed loop” as Chinese officials call it, are only allowed to use dedicated vehicles to move within three protected Olympic zones, including central Beijing, the Yanqing district in the capital and the neighbouring Zhangjiakou city, according to South China Morning Post.

Every member of the bubble, including slightly fewer than 3,000 athletes, will have to do a Covid test every day until they exit the protected environment.

Until Thursday, Beijing had only recorded infections with the Delta variant and without any trace of Omicron cases for three days in a row.

The number of cases among those linked to the Olympics has risen to 106, after nine arrivals at Beijing’s airport tested positive.

Unvaccinated athletes will have to spend a 21-day quarantine period in designated hotels once they arrive in the country and before joining the Olympics bubble.

The stringent measures indicate that China will not let go of the zero-Covid policy despite growing criticism amid the lockdown of millions due to domestic outbreaks and doubts over locally produced Covid vaccines.

The rising resentment comes just days before the lunar New Year, China’s annual travel holiday, which will kick off on 1 February. Around one billion trips will be made during the travel season, a 35 per cent increase from last year, according to China’s Transportation Ministry. But this is still far from the three billion trips made in 2019, before the pandemic.

“Compare the cases of Covid-19 in China and those of other countries like the US,” Zhao Lijian, the Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesman, said last week. “You won’t know if you don’t compare, but once you do, you’d be startled. It’s fair to say China has achieved a strategic victory in the fight against Covid-19.”

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Experts say China sees a double benefit in its strict Covid policy. It would guarantee a fast reaction to potential Covid clusters during the high-profile sports event and prove its “victory” in controlling the pandemic when compared with the west.

That is likely to trigger a fresh struggle over Covid narratives, as Chinese state media is already engaged in a battle to defuse western demands for an independent investigation into the virus’s origin.

China’s officials will also be expected to use the fewer infections resulting from tightening lockdown measures to draw comparisons to Japan’s Covid outbreaks during the Summer Olympics.

The main concerns for Chinese officials appear to be focused on Covid outbreaks and other surprises that could jeopardise showcasing the Olympics as a success.

The Chinese Communist Party wants to prove that the Beijing Olympics was able to weather the storm of diplomatic pressure and the pandemic, as well as for the Chinese team to repeat its stunning medals haul during the Tokyo Summer Games.