Beijing rises to the Omicron challenge: China Daily editorial

The COVID-19 pandemic situation in China has shown no signs of easing, with 2,666 locally transmitted confirmed cases reported on Sunday, according to the National Health Commission's daily report on Monday.

Worse, apart from Shanghai, the epicenter of the latest wave of novel coronavirus infections, 17 other provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland saw new local cases, including Beijing where 14 new cases were reported.

The news sparked panic-buying in parts of the capital with people rushing to strip supermarket shelves of goods in anticipation of a lockdown.

Whether the capital or large parts of it will be locked down depends on the results of the three rounds of nucleic acid testing being carried out in Chaoyang district and other areas, which will give a clearer picture of the overall epidemic situation in the city. More measures will follow in light of that.

Beijing has already activated its emergency response mechanism, and contact tracing, testing, and quarantining are underway. It is a race against time. The more quickly and efficiently the dynamic clearing measures are carried out, the more likely they are to cut the transmission chains and the lower the possibility of a citywide lockdown.

But as Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing municipal disease prevention and control center, cautioned, there was undetected transmission of the virus for a week and there are escalating risks in the capital posed by imported cases, outbreaks outside Beijing as well as increased flows of people during the upcoming public holiday.

It will not be easy, and whether the capital can get a grip on the latest spate of infections depends on how well the authorities have planned for this moment and how well that plan is implemented.

Hopefully, the lessons have been learned from the extended lockdown in Shanghai, and officials have done all they can to ensure secure and stable supplies of foods and vegetables and that residents have access to medical resources for non-COVID-19 needs. Dispelling people's worst imaginings in this way will foster trust and cooperation in the strict measures that will be adopted to contain the virus.

If supplies of food and other daily necessities remain readily available, the express delivery system continues to operate smoothly and people get the medical treatment they need, anxieties will abate to a great extent, as it is the concern about not being able to get food and necessary medical care, rather than the virus itself, that is the most worrying aspect for many.

The challenges Beijing and the rest of the country are facing in their battle against the virus require officials and the public to join hands in forming an unbreakable line of defense against the virus. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel will be shorter, if the spread of the virus is controlled swiftly.