China reports first Omicron cluster, weeks before the Olympics

BEIJING — The numbers are small, but the major port of Tianjin may be facing China’s first Omicron outbreak of any size, less than four weeks before the Winter Olympics begin in nearby Beijing.

Tianjin began mass testing of its 14 million residents Sunday after a cluster of 20 children and adults tested positive for the coronavirus, including at least two with the Omicron variant. Officials said the virus has been circulating, so the number of cases could grow.

China has stepped up its zero-tolerance strategy in the run-up to the Olympics, which open Feb. 4.

Beijing, the Chinese capital, is 70 miles northwest of Tianjin, and many people regularly travel back and forth by car or on a highspeed rail link that takes less than one hour.

Elsewhere, millions of people are being confined to their homes in Xi’an and Yuzhou, cities that are farther away but have larger outbreaks. Both outbreaks have been traced to the Delta coronavirus variant.

The outbreak in Yuzhou is also affecting Zhengzhou, the Henan provincial capital 40 miles to the north. Zhengzhou has been conducting mass testing of residents and is closing schools starting Monday.

The first two cases confirmed in Tianjin were a 10year-old girl and a 29-yearold woman working at an after-school center. Both were infected by the Omicron variant.

In subsequent testing of their close contacts, 18 others tested positive as of Saturday night, and 767 tested negative.

Those infected include 15 students ages 8 to 13, the after-school center staff member and four parents.

The citywide testing is to be completed over two days. Tianjin has closed some subway stations on two lines to try to prevent further spread.

China had reported about a dozen Omicron cases previously, most among people who had arrived from abroad and were isolated.

In one case in mid-December, the infection was not detected until after the person had completed two weeks of quarantine, and it spread to a few of the person’s close contacts in the southern city of Guangzhou.