China reiterates Omicron’s first case as fears mounted on industrial chains

The Omicron coronavirus has first appeared in China, according to health officials, forcing officials already struggling with the spread of one of the country’s most important areas.

Officials and state media said Omicron case “sent” by the city of Tianjin, south-east of Beijing, where travelers are kept in solitary confinement before being allowed to enter the Chinese capital.

“People living with HIV in Tianjin are now receiving individualized treatment in designated hospitals,” the city government said Tuesday. “This is the first time a Omicron case has been found in China.”

The government of President Xi Jinping is following the principles of “zero Covid” in the most populous country in the world, partly because of concerns about low power of home-made vaccines in China and the risk of death if Covid-19 spreads freely among 1.4bn people in the country.

China has just mentioned 100,000 people who have been diagnosed with Covid since the virus was discovered Wuhan about two years ago – less than the number of cases per day in the US UK.

The Omicron discovery in Tianjin came as thousands of Chinese people were detained as a result of the spread of Covid-19. Authorities are scrambling to find more cases in the Yangtze delta, a major manufacturing center.

The cities of Hangzhou, Shaoxing and Ningbo – all in Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai – have reported nearly 200 new cases this week, prompting officials to ban travel until March 2022.

There were more than 100 illnesses in just one province – Shangyu, in Shaoxing – all at the funeral, state media reported.

Many manufacturers have stopped manufacturing in the area. Ningbo is one of the Chinese large port ports, which raises concerns about the global crisis.

Xia Yanhong, who runs the textile industry at Shaoxing, said one of its plants was forced to close and the other three were heavily controlled.

“We have a valuable item Rmb120m [$19m] is waiting to be shipped, “said Xia, whose customers are mostly European.”

He also said that motorists who are already paying Rs 5,000 to deliver containers to nearby ports now need Rmb14,000.

Many of the companies mentioned in Shanghai and Shenzhen have also confirmed the same disruptions. “Apart from preventing epidemics and public safety, all other activities will be suspended,” Zhejiang Jingsheng Mechanical & Electrical Co wrote in a note to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, one of more than a dozen notices sent to the boss on Monday.

China’s National Health Commission on Tuesday announced 51 new transmission cases across the country, 44 of them in Zhejiang and 38 in Shaoxing, a city of 5m.

The case in Tianjin was confirmed after the headquarters of the Municipal Epidemic Prevention and Control conducted an investigation. gene sequence analysis that showed there was a B.1.1.529 strain, called the Omicron variant. The Global Times, a pro-Communist party, said the case was a Polish national who flew to Tianjin from Warsaw.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry also uses Tianjin as another meeting place and foreign dignitaries instead of risking the virus in Beijing.

Jin Dongyan, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong, said the presence of Omicron cases encouraged the government’s efforts to distribute the stimulus.

Health officials have already released 2.5bn doses of Chinese Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines. “While we are not sure about the effectiveness of the vaccine against Omicron, an encouraging shot should be given, especially for people at high risk,” Jin said.

In Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, a senior official, said Omicron’s departure from China would not change plans to reopen the city limits and mainland.

Hong Kong has reported seven Omicron cases, including two on Monday. All of these cases involved foreign nationals from South Africa, Nigeria, the US and the UK.

The city is already operating one of the countries in the world strict rules set aside, and newcomers are forced to stay up to three weeks in a hotel. For travelers from the countries where Omicron is rapidly expanding, this section requires the first week of isolation to be located in a special government facility near the airport.

Additional reports of Wang Xueqiao in Shanghai