A woman wearing a face mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus stretches out next to a masked woman sitting on a bench outside a shopping mall in Beijing on Thursday, October 21, 2021 (AP Photo / Andy Wong)
PA
BEIJING
The Chinese capital Beijing has started offering booster shots against COVID-19, four months before the city and surrounding areas host the Winter Olympics.
Anyone 18 or older who has received two-dose Chinese vaccines and belongs to risk groups, including those who participate in, organize or work at play facilities, would be eligible for the additional vaccine, media reported on Friday. officials.
The recall has been rolling out in cities across the vast country since late September, but authorities in Beijing have been very cautious about who will receive the extra blow.
Matches are scheduled to start on February 4, with only Chinese residents allowed in the stands. Indoor events with sliding, skiing and jumping will take place in the suburb of Yanqing and the neighboring town of Zhangjiakou.
China has largely succeeded in preventing local transmission with strict requirements on mask wear, quarantine and contact tracing. Cases continue to emerge, however, with 28 new cases reported on Friday, including one in the Beijing suburb of Fengtai.
The pandemic is believed to originate in the city of Wuhan in central China at the end of 2019, resulting in a total lockdown that has affected more than 50 million people.
China has been accused of covering up the initial outbreak and hampering investigations into the origins of the coronavirus, although it said earlier this week it would cooperate with a new World Organization investigation. health while “firmly opposing any form of political manipulation”.
The WHO on Wednesday released a proposed list of 25 experts to advise it on next steps in researching the origins of the virus after its earlier efforts came under attack for giving in to China.
