China in Mass Testing Blitz After Reporting First Community Spread of Omicron
This article from Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
China saw its first omicron cases in the community, igniting a mass testing blitz in the northern city of Tianjin as the country strives to maintain its zero-tolerance approach to Covid in the face of more transmissible variants.
The two cases in the port city were confirmed as being omicron by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, after its local branch completed the genome sequencing, CCTV reported. The infections were from the same transmission chain but officials have yet to establish if the strain is the same as imported omicron cases reported earlier in Tianjin, according to the report.
China’s commitment to its Covid Zero policy has seen it restrict movements and implement mass testing and other measures in cities spread across the country. Further outbreaks raise the risk of new lockdown measures that could disrupt production and shipping in an economy already battling weak consumption and a property market slump.
The two cases in the port city were confirmed as being omicron by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, after its local branch completed the genome sequencing, CCTV reported. The infections were from the same transmission chain but officials have yet to establish if the strain is the same as imported omicron cases reported earlier in Tianjin, according to the report.
China’s commitment to its Covid Zero policy has seen it restrict movements and implement mass testing and other measures in cities spread across the country. Further outbreaks raise the risk of new lockdown measures that could disrupt production and shipping in an economy already battling weak consumption and a property market slump.
Before Christmas I regarded China as a wild card. They have been able to sustain manufacturing because community spread of the virus was minimal. That’s all going to change in 2022. The omicron variant might be milder but the Chinese population is virgin territory for the virus, the number of hospitalisations is likely to increase substantially driven by sheer weight of numbers.
Subject to how the Party deals with this increasingly severe outbreak, it could have significant knock-on effects. It would easily be the catalyst for increased Chinese monetary and fiscal support.
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