January 9, 2022

North China's Tianjin Municipality, home to 15 million people and also a major gateway to Beijing, started massive nucleic acid testing early Sunday morning, ramping up a swift response to the new Omicron variant after the city detected 20 COVID-19 infections in a single day, with two identified as carrying the new variant. 

Epidemiologists said it's the first real battle against Omicron on the Chinese mainland as  domestically-transmitted cases linked to the strain were discovered in local communities for the first time. The sudden outbreak also put adjacent Beijing on alert, creating huge uncertainty and high possibility of a spillover as the source of the outbreak remains unknown. But epidemiologists assured that as long as rapid tracing of the origin of the new viral chain is conducted and effective measures are put in place, the outbreak is expected to be extinguished before China's Spring Festival and 2022 Winter Olympic Games, which are only few weeks away. 

Tianjin reported on Sunday night another 20 people who tested positive for COVID-19, all from the city's Jinnan district. They were sent to hospitals for further diagnosis and treatment. It is not clear whether they were infected with the Omicron variant. 

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https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202201/1245409.shtml