China’s Tianjin on partial lockdown after omicron found

BEIJING (AP) — A major Chinese city near Beijing has placed its 14 million residents on partial lockdown after 40 children and adults tested positive for COVID-19, including at least two with the omicron variant. China has stepped up its zero tolerance anti-virus strategy in the runup to the Winter Olympics, which open Feb. 4 in Beijing. Fifteen students from 8 to 13 years old are among those who tested positive in Tianjin, about an hour from Beijing. The others include a staff member at an after-school center and four parents. Elsewhere, millions of people are being confined to their homes in Xi’an and Yuzhou, two cities that are farther away but have larger outbreaks traced to the delta variant.