China detects second case of Omicron coronavirus variant on the mainland

[discocrisco01]

Source: CNN

China has detected its second case of the Omicron coronavirus variant in a traveler more than two weeks after he arrived in the country from overseas, posing a fresh challenge to the government's zero-Covid strategy.

The case, reported in the southern city of Guangzhou on Tuesday, came a day after health authorities in the northern port city of Tianjin said they detected mainland China's first Omicron infection -- also in a traveler who arrived from overseas.
The Tianjin case was identified as an asymptomatic carrier on arrival. The individual was already in quarantine while genome sequencing confirmed he had the Omicron variant -- suggesting the variant had not been directly exposed to local residents.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/13/china/china-first-omicron-case-intl-hnk/index.html

[IronLionZion]

1. I bet they're super excited for the olympics in February

I don't think visitors from around the world are going to enjoy their visit to China very much. They're heavy handed in pandemic restrictions.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Oddly enough

China has had a polar opposite response to vaccines compared to Japan when they had the Tokyo Olympics, where the Japanese finally started earnestly ratcheting up the vaccinations there just before the opening ceremonies - https://apnews.com/article/japan-coronavirus-pandemic-olympic-games-2020-tokyo-olympics-government-and-politics-863710a22b76b4ce08eaef50358554c1

They were fortunate that they pretty much bubbled the Olympians to keep them from becoming a super-spreader nightmare (but then no regular "spectators" were allowed either).

[IronLionZion]

3. China has a strict vaccine mandate

and unlike the US, there is no religious exemption there, only medical exemptions.

China will have a bio-secure bubble for the athletes and staff. I've seen reports saying no spectators. Some of the sports would be outside so that's lower risk.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Yup and given having those outside low-contact type sports will definitely help

although obviously some of the "fan favorites" like the figure skating/ice dancing are indoors.

But I know they don't play. They have had multiple severe lockdowns a number of times there.

[Ford_Prefect]

5. If they are admitting to 2 Omicrons, and this is 2 weeks after that person entered the country,

they need to be looking for at least 200-300 more cases by now. This thing moves faster than Delta.