CHINA
<strong>Record case count posted</strong>
Beijing yesterday recorded its highest number of new COVID-19 cases for a year and a half, as the capital gears up to host the Winter Olympics in five days. The country is to hold the Games in a strict “closed loop” bubble as part of its “zero COVID-19” strategy of targeted lockdowns, border restrictions and lengthy quarantines. The approach has helped the world’s second-largest economy keep the number of cases far lower than many other countries, but it is battling local outbreaks in several cities, as well as in the Olympic bubble. Beijing’s tally of 20 new