[Epoch Times, January 23, 2022](The Epoch Times reporter Xu Jian comprehensive report) As the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics is approaching, the number of infected people in Beijing not only did not “zero”, but soared. Talk about the outbreak in Beijing in a serious tone. On Sunday (January 23), mass testing began in some areas.
With less than two weeks before the Winter Olympics, Beijing continues to report new cases (the real situation is widely believed to be more serious due to the CCP’s consistent concealment of figures).
The epidemic has not improved, but has worsened. A notice from Fengtai District in Beijing stated that due to the clustered epidemic in the district and the risk of community transmission, nucleic acid testing was organized in the whole district on January 23.
According to mainland media reports, 10 districts in Beijing, including Dongcheng, Xicheng, Chaoyang, Haidian, Shijingshan, etc., sent 4,600 medical staff to Fengtai to help with testing.
At present, the new cases announced by Beijing officials continuously. For Beijing, which pursues the so-called “zero” anti-epidemic policy, this will mean that the Winter Olympics will be held in an unprecedentedly strict control environment.
Beijing said there were 13 new local infections on Saturday (9 new local confirmed cases and 4 local asymptomatic infections) and 12 new cases on Friday.
On Saturday, Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, spoke of the outbreak in Beijing with rare seriousness. She said: “Currently, the epidemic situation in the city is spreading at multiple points.” She called on the city to “take the fastest and most effective measures to prevent the spread of the epidemic to the greatest extent possible.”
Voice of America commented that anyone familiar with the CCP’s “internal tightening and external loosening” anti-epidemic model knows that CCP officials talk about the epidemic in such a severe tone and in an extraordinary way, which often means that the real situation of the epidemic is very bad.
Reuters said that, judging from the epidemic situation in Beijing and other parts of China, Beijing will greet the arrival of the Winter Olympics with a city-wide emergency.
Some recent studies suggest that even with three doses of China’s domestic vaccine, there is little protection against the new variant of Omicron.
Previously, Beijing blamed Canada Mail for cases of Omikron infection and increased the frequency of testing overseas mail. However, experts from the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have made it clear that there is no evidence that the new crown virus can Spread by international mail.
On Friday, the director-general of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, said the risks of China’s “zero” approach to fighting the virus outweighed the benefits.
She believes that the current Omicron mutant strain is highly contagious, and the original strict measures such as city closure, full testing and entry isolation can no longer achieve the expected effect. As far as China is concerned, the policy of vigorously containing the latest wave of epidemic counterattacks may not work very soon.
“Omicron let us all know that a highly contagious variant of the new coronavirus could be very difficult to contain without a huge economic cost,” she said.
Responsible editor: Li Ling#