Omicron Forces More Lockdowns, Border Restrictions In China

Beijing is on high alert for new outbreaks as it prepares to host the Winter Olympics next month, sticking to a "zero-Covid" strategy of targeted lockdowns, border restrictions and lengthy quarantines.

Five million residents of a central Chinese city started home confinement Tuesday in a new lockdown to curb the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus, according to state media.

Beijing is on high alert for new outbreaks as it prepares to host the Winter Olympics next month, sticking to a "zero-Covid" strategy of targeted lockdowns, border restrictions and lengthy quarantines.

While those measures have kept the number of new cases far lower than virus hotspots in the United States and Europe, Beijing is currently battling local flare-ups in multiple cities.

The fast-spreading Omicron strain presents a fresh challenge, with two cases in Anyang -- the newly locked down city in Henan province -- linked to a growing infection cluster in the northern metropolis of Tianjin, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) away.