china has been worried about once it is opening up it will make the health system a very stressful. there is a concern about the ageing population and underlying and chronic conditions. it is a higher stakes now, with the high transmissibility of the delta and omicron variants, the worry is, if they open up, especially before the spring festival, before the major event, the winter olympics, it may get worse, so that is why the stakes are higher but they still think it is in the interests at least for the next couple of months to keep the virus at bay. to next couple of months to keep the virus at bay- virus at bay. to what extent is the lockdown that virus at bay. to what extent is the lockdown that we virus at bay. to what extent is the lockdown that we have virus at bay. to what extent is the lockdown that we have seen - virus at bay. to what extent is the lockdown that we have seen in - virus at bay. to what extent is the i lockdown that we have seen in xi an, a sign that the
of the country s strictest lockdowns since the pandemic began. these images are from inside xi an. sun chunlan told officials there to speed up testing and do more to isolate the close contacts of those found to be positive. more than 1,200 cases have been found in the city in the past few weeks. to tell us about whether this strategy is the best way to keep omicron at bay, i am joined now by dr xi chen, an expert in health policy at yale university. thanks forjoining us. by comparison with some of the numbers we have seenin with some of the numbers we have seen in other countries, china s infection numbers are quite small, so why are they taking this rather tough approach? so why are they taking this rather tough approach? thanks for having me. china tough approach? thanks for having me- china has tough approach? thanks for having me. china has been tough approach? thanks for having me. china has been maintaining i tough approach? thanks for having me. china has been maintaining a
putting their next match onjanuary 2nd in serious doubt. we ll have more sport for you later on the bbc news channel. this is bbc news, the headlines. australia has welcomed in 2022 with a firework display in sydney harbour. but around the world, many new year s celebrations are cancelled or scaled back due to concerns over covid infections. one in 30 people in the uk were estimated to have tested positive for covid heading into christmas a new record high for infections. new data suggests the risk of hospitalisation with the omicron coronavirus variant is about one third that of the delta variant. the british study also showed that vaccines can work well against omicron, reducing the need for hospital treatment. now on bbc news, curtain up on coventry. this summer, coventry s streets
this is bbc news broadacsting to viewers in the uk and around the world, i m martine croxall. our top stories. australia has welcomed in 2022 with a firework display in sydney harbour. but around the world many celebrations are cancelled or scaled back due to concerns over covid infections. and celebrations are underway in north korea this is the scene in pyongyang. china is attempting to stick to a zero covid strategy ahead of its lunar new year celebrations and the beijing winter olympics. one in 30 people in the uk were estimated to have tested positive for covid heading into christmas a new record high for infections. new data suggests the risk of hospitalisation with the omicron coronavirus variant is about one third that
symptomatic disease for this and the original omicron variant. much more research is needed. they say that the uk is in quite a good position because the amount of genome sequencing carried out here and they can react and respond quite quickly. infections are still at high rates and people should still be cautious as restrictions are eased, so consider still wearing masks to get your vaccinations and to carry on testing regularly. your vaccinations and to carry on testing regularly. thank you very much for that testing regularly. thank you very much for that update. some measures put in place to tackle coronavirus are easing today in wales. there are changes for people wishing to go to nightclubs and restaurants and social distancing rules have also been relaxed. our wales correspondent tomos morgan is in cardiff with further details: today is the last stage of the road map set out by first minister mark drakeford in bringing wales back to alert level zero, so the main points, s