China’s Tianjin orders more testing on 14 million residents

BEIJING (AP) — The northern Chinese city of Tianjin has ordered a second round of COVID-19 testing on all 14 million residents after multiple cases of the omicron strain were found during initial screenings that began Sunday. The official Xinhua News Agency says authorities have carried out almost 12 million tests so far, with 7.8 million samples returned. Infections were first reported on Saturday in the city that is only about an hour from Beijing, which is to host the Winter Olympics from Feb. 4. The city’s COVID-19 prevention and control office said all 97 locally transmitted cases were of the omicron variant, of which China has so far only reported a handful. Millions more are under lockdown in other Chinese cities.