After the Wuhan one, the Beijing Marathon on October 31, where around 30,000 participants were expected, was postponed until further notice amid a flare-up of new Covid-19 cases in the country and "in order to prevent the risk of spreading the epidemic and effectively protecting the health and safety of most runners, staff and residents. "
Just over 100 days before the start of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the National Health Commission reported in its daily updates that another 35 home-transmitted infections were detected yesterday.
The new outbreak of infections, which began about 10 days ago, is linked to a group of tourists who were in Shanghai before flying to Xi'an, Gansu and Inner Mongolia, in the midst of a new surge in Covid cases. 19 in the country, just over 100 days before the start of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics which will open on February 4th.
Of the infections reported on Sunday, 19 relate to Inner Mongolia, four each in Guizhou and Gansu, two in Beijing, Hebei and Shaanxi.
The Wuhan marathon, the city where the coronavirus was first identified at the end of 2019, was also expected to take place yesterday with 26,000 participants, but was canceled on short notice due to concerns over the coronavirus resumption. Chinese authorities, which have opted for the 'zero Covid' approach, are struggling to keep virus infections through mass testing of residents and targeted lockdowns, while the outbreak has so far affected 11 provinces.
With the latest tourism-related clusters across the country, authorities yesterday announced the suspension of interprovincial tourism groups in five areas where cases have been detected, including Beijing.
Some cities, such as Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu, and parts of Inner Mongolia have suspended bus and taxi services and closed tourist sites.
The recent spate of internal infections involves a strain of the Delta variant, according to Chinese health officials.