New subvariants are the latest challenge to China’s zero-covid policy
Omicron BA.5 has many cities on edge
In early july Steven Ho, a lawmaker in Hong Kong, tested positive for covid-19. That is hardly news in a city reporting some 3,000 new cases a day. But two days earlier Mr Ho had stood just metres away from Xi Jinping, China’s president. Mr Ho would have been tested and made to quarantine before seeing Mr Xi. Still, the virus (which is not detectable right away) probably entered the room with Mr Ho.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Test after test”
From the July 23rd 2022 edition
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