BEIJING (Reuters) -The Chinese autonomous region of Tibet, which had barely reported COVID patients for more than two years, is facing a spate of new infections, forcing it to impose various restriction in its second largest city.
Tibet reported one infection with confirmed symptoms in January 2020, and then remained clear of cases for over 900 days, the best record among Chinese regions and provinces under China’s “dynamic zero COVID” policy. Its disclosure of asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately, was less clear.
The regional capital city of Lhasa disclosed on Monday one symptomatic patient and seventeen asymptomatic cases. The city has sealed up a few buildings.
Many of those 18 cases which initially tested positive on Sunday had entered Lhasa from the city of Shigatse earlier this month, local government-backed media said.
Shigatse, Tibet’s second biggest city with a population of about 800,000, has imposed three days of curbs, during which people are banned from entering or leaving the city and various public venues and group events are suspended, state media said on Monday.
Ngari prefecture said on Monday its town of Burang had found four infected travellers linked to Shigatse.
(Reporting by Roxanne Liu and Ryan Woo; Editing by Toby Chopra and Bernadette Baum)
