transmitted cases of the virus, five. this is a handful of cases. we re talking about zero covid china at the time of the beijing games. mass testing is underway. 2 million people in the district of beijing are undergoing mandatory covid testing right now. snap lockdowns, that s happening. a number of people in the district following 13 residential buildings have been sealed off. they re not allowed to leave their homes for 21 days. beijing officials have issued a curious directive telling all people who have purchased cold or fever medicine, they have to go get themselves tested for covid. they re trying to prevent people from using these medicines from masking symptoms of covid-19. if they don t get tested, they will be punished. they won t be allowed to travel or use the beijing city health app to use public services or go out to restaurants. as you can imagine there s been a very angry reaction to that on
matter. bach in beijing is expected to meet with peng soon. the olympic bubble is holding the athletes, the person pell and incoming media kept separate from the rest of china. this as the number of new covid-19 cases continues to rise and spread across the mainland. china facing a renewed challenge to halt this latest surge. snap lockdowns, mass testing and contact tracing and all a bit stepped up as the country works to show its superiority in containing the virus. state media continuing to label the virus as an imported threat, even dating back to the initial outbreak in wuhan, a consistent propaganda effort to deflect blame and refocus global attention on what s supposed to be a spectacular and unifying event. and threatening to cast a darker shadow over these games, growing tensions between russia and ukraine with russian president vladimir putin.
need to be afraid of omicron. by applying the dynamic zero case policy and observing the prevention and control measures, unquote. china is confident in what it s calling a dynamic zero covid strategy. it s a strategy of throwing the entire pandemic playbook at even just a handful of cases. you ve got mass testing or contact tracing, snap lockdowns, border controls, travel restrictions, et cetera. i think china is using the word dynamic here because it realizes it is very difficult to keep the number at zero. but they do have what it takes with this pandemic playbook strategy to bring those case numbers down as low as possible. back to you, michael. yeah. great information. kr kristie lu stout there in hong kong, thanks so much. you re welcome. still to come here on the program, israel s prime minister looking to deepen ties during his trip to the uae. the first such visit by an israeli leader.
place until we have the scientific information. place until we have the scientific information. ., ~ , ., , . china has warned that the fast spreading omicron variant will pose challenges at the winter olympics in beijing in february. china has largely quashed covid i9 within its borders through travel restrictions and snap lockdowns. but outbreaks linked to the delta variant have persisted. foreign ministry spokesman zhao lijian says he s confident the winter olympics will be conducted smoothly but he says the new variant will lead to challenges linked to prevention and control. we have just had a statement from the national police chief council saying that police in england will work in partnership with relevant business owners and their staff to make sure people comply with the new regulations about wearing face coverings. the new rules say that in shops and public transport from the age of ii upwards who does not have age of ii upwards who does not have a reasonable excuse should