BEIJING (AP) – Beijing has urged residents not to leave the city during the February Lunar New Year holiday, implementing new restrictions after several coronavirus infections last week.
Two internal cases were reported on Friday, a store worker and a Hewlett Packard Enterprise employee. Two other asymptomatic cases were discovered in Beijing earlier this week.
Beijing is conducting tests on a limited scale in the neighborhoods and workplaces where the cases were found.
To counter any new outbreaks, the Beijing government has canceled large gatherings, such as sporting events and temple fairs. It is said that the applications will be strictly examined for any major event. Places like cinemas, libraries and museums must operate at 75% capacity, the government said.
He also asked companies not to organize business trips outside the city and abroad.
The Lunar New Year is February 12.
Separately, officials in the northeastern port city of Dalian said on Friday they had tested more than 4.75 million people for coronavirus after 24 confirmed infections this month.
Authorities have closed schools and all public spaces in five neighborhood divisions in Dalian, and only key workers can leave their companies to go to work.
Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region:
– The Japanese Ministry of Health said on Saturday that it has confirmed a variant of the coronavirus that has spread in the UK to two residents of Tokyo – the first two cases of the new variant found outside Japanese airports. A 30-year-old man tested positive for the new variant on Saturday after returning from the UK on December 16, the ministry said in a statement. A second patient is a 20-year-old woman who is related to the man. The confirmation came a day after the ministry said it had detected the first cases of the variant in five returnees in the UK who tested positive when they arrived at Japanese airports between 18 and 21 December. Also Saturday, Tokyo confirmed 949 new cases of coronavirus, a record high for the Japanese capital, as the country struggles with nationwide growth. The Tokyo metropolitan government said the additional cases bring the prefectural total to 55,851. Japan had 3,823 new cases on Friday for a national total of 213,547, with 3,155 deaths, the health ministry said.
– South Korea reported another 1,132 cases of coronavirus, as the renaissance worsened over the Christmas week, putting pressure on the government to impose stricter social distance controls. Saturday’s figures brought the country’s number of cases to 55,902, with 793 deaths. About 780 of the new cases came from the larger capital area, home to 26 million people, where health workers discovered a large group in a huge Seoul prison with more than 500 detainees and workers. Broadcasts in recent weeks have also been linked to hospitals, nursing homes, churches, restaurants and army units. After months of gratitude, government officials have reinstated some distance restrictions in recent weeks, lowering them to their lowest level in October and now lowering the limits of private meetings, closing ski resorts, restricting hotel occupancy and setting restaurant fines. if it accepts large groups. The government will hold a meeting on Sunday to determine whether to lift distance control to the highest “Level 3”, which could close hundreds of thousands of non-essential companies. Officials have resisted the action for weeks, saying it could trigger an additional shock to an already weak economy.
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