BEIJING officials said all two million residents of a neighbourhood where they identified a small cluster of Covid-19 infections will be tested, less than two weeks ahead of the start of the Winter Olympics.

The announcement comes days after the national postal service ordered workers to disinfect international deliveries, after authorities claimed mail could be the source of recent coronavirus cases.

About 30 infections have been detected in the past week in Beijing, one of the most populous cities in the world.

The World Health Organisation and United States Centres for Disease Control have both said the risk of being infected from contaminated surfaces is low.

China’s cases constitute a tiny fraction of the massive surge in countries worldwide, with the highly contagious Omicron driving a fresh surge in infections.

Still, multiple small outbreaks around China – including in Beijing – have tested the country’s strict “zero Covid” policy, which authorities have pursued even as the rest of the world gradually reopens.

Local authorities have identified Fengtai district in southern Beijing as the epicentre of a cluster of six new confirmed cases, taking the number of cases in the capital to 34.

All two million residents in the area will be tested for Covid-19 from today.

With the Beijing Games starting on February 4, international delegates, media personnel and some athletes have already started arriving.

China is sealing the Olympics inside a tightly controlled bubble cocooning thousands of people and stretching nearly 200km in an effort to thwart the virus. – AFP, January 23, 2022.