China Lifts COVID-19 Lockdown In Xian After A Month, Winter Olympics Committee Finds 72 Positive Cases

JAKARTA - Chinese authorities lifted the COVID-19 lockdown in Xian City that restricted the activities of its 13 million citizens for a month starting Monday, as infections eased ahead of the February 4 Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

Meanwhile, two million residents of one of Beijing's districts have been ordered to be tested for COVID-19, following a string of infections in the capital, citing the Associated Press January 24.

The government told people in areas of Beijing deemed to be at high risk of infection not to leave the city after 25 cases were found in Fengtai District and 14 elsewhere.

Fengtai residents lined up on the snow-covered sidewalks in the frigid weather for the test.

Meanwhile, the Beijing Winter Olympics are being held under tight controls meant to isolate athletes, staff, reporters, and officials from citizens. Athletes are required to be vaccinated or undergo quarantine upon arrival in China.

The announcement by the Xian Government on Monday followed the resumption of commercial flights from the city the day before. Being a major industrial center and the former imperial capital, famous for being the home of an army of statues of the Terracotta Warriors, it has struggled to feed the local population and economy while people are confined to their homes.

Xian has been a cornerstone of the ruling Communist Party's 'zero tolerance' strategy against COVID-19 which mandates lockdowns, travel restrictions, and mass testing whenever a case is discovered.

The city of Xian itself is about 1.000 kilometers (600 miles) southwest of Beijing, where the Olympics open on February 4. Access to Xi'an was suspended on December 22 following an outbreak linked to the delta variant of the coronavirus.

Separately, another outbreak prompted the government to impose travel bans on a number of cities, including the port of Tianjin, about an hour from Beijing. Rigid regulation is credited with preventing a major national outbreak and China has reported relatively few cases of the highly contagious variant of the omicron.

This Monday, China reported just 18 new cases of local infection, including six in Beijing. China currently has 2.754 cases of infection, with the total having reported a total of 105.660 cases of COVID-19 with 4.636 deaths.

Despite the declining number of cases, control of the pandemic has been stepped up ahead of the Olympics, where all participants must be tested before and after their arrival in Beijing.

Separately, organizers of the biennial winter games said on Monday 39 people among 2.586 athletes, team officials, and others who arrived after January 4 tested positive for the virus upon landing at Beijing airport. The other 33 people who had entered the participant isolation bubble from the general public later tested positive, the organizing committee said on its website.

The statement did not identify those who tested positive other than to say they were "outside stakeholders," a term that excludes athletes or coaches.

To note, China requires a 21-day quarantine for people arriving from abroad but has waived it for those coming for the Olympics on the condition that they test negative for the virus.