China faces omicron test weeks ahead of Beijing Olympics

By HUIZHONG WU
Associated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Just weeks before it hosts the Winter Olympics, China is battling multiple COVID-19 outbreaks in half a dozen cities with the one closest to Beijing driven by the highly transmissible omicron variant. With the success of the Games and China’s national dignity at stake, Beijing is doubling down on its “zero-COVID” policy by imposing sometimes draconian restrictions to snuff out new cases. Across China, more than 20 million people are living under some form of lockdown, many prevented from leaving their homes at all. To safeguard the Games, China is implementing an even stricter bubble than Tokyo did for the Summer Games in July. Participants at the Beijing Olympics will not be allowed to leave what’s called the closed loop between hotels and competition venues.