Dalian Covid Cases Linked To Tianjin Omicron Outbreak

New locally transmitted Covid-19 cases on the mainland have jumped by more than 50 percent from Tuesday. The National Health Commission reported 166 new local infections on Wednesday, many of which are either in Tianjin or linked to the massive northern port city where an outbreak of the Omicron variant was confirmed on Sunday.

Dalian, in northeast Liaoning, is the latest city to announce infections linked to Tianjin, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Officials said two people, who left the massive port city on January 8, tested positive for Covid-19 during routine nucleic acid testing.

They said the two are college friends and had been in the Jinnan District of Tianjin, where the Omicron outbreak was first detected, for about six days. They had tested negative for Covid just before leaving Tianjin and again on Monday.

Close contacts of the two have been put under medical observation while further tests are carried out to see what strain of the coronavirus they were infected by.

Xinhua said the Tianjin Municipality was mobilizing all residents on Wednesday to undergo a second round of nucleic acid testing, after the first round of citywide screening that started on Sunday found dozens of Covid-19 infections.

The National Health Commission reported another 33 in the city on Wednesday, along with 118 in Henan, where the spread of the Omicron outbreak was first confirmed in Anyang City on Monday.

Seven new local Covid infections were also confirmed in Guangdong and eight in Shaanxi.

The commission also reported four asymptomatic cases that appear to have been locally acquired.