China on Sunday reported 65 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases for Jan. 15, including the first Omicron case in Beijing, just weeks from the Feb. 4 start of the city's Winter Olympic Games and the country's Lunar New Year holiday.
That was down from 104 comparable cases a day earlier, as the outbreak in the northwestern city of Xian winds down after strict lockdowns. But the highly transmissible Omicron variant has been detected in at least five provinces and municipalities, prompting cities to impose curbs to stop its spread and threatening to further undercut slowing economic growth.
About 13,000 people have been tested for COVID-19 in the Haidian district where the case was discovered, but none of the results came back positive, Beijing Daily, a government newspaper, cited official data as saying on Sunday. "It is too soon to conclude that Omicron will swamp China's efforts to suppress COVID," said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics, in a note issued on Friday.
Some Beijing residents, concerned about being trapped in the city for the upcoming week-long Lunar New Year holiday, are rushing to travel back home early because of the Omicron case.
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