China has stepped up its COVID-19 control measures with two international sporting events being cancelled, number of high-risk transmission zones being increased and Beijing ordering three-day continuous testing for 21 million of its residents, ahead of the key ruling Communist Party's Congress where President Xi Jinping is expected to get a rare third term in office.
While the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) on Friday put off the 2022 Asian Games scheduled to be held in Hangzhou in September, the International University Sports Federation (FISU) has cancelled the World University Games which were due to start in Chengdu in late June.
The Asian Games were put off despite a recent official announcement that all 56 venues for the Hangzhou Asian Games and the Asian Para Games were ready.
The postponement of the games came as a surprise as China successfully held both the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympics in February this year when virus cases were prevalent in the country and the world.
The postponement of the games triggered speculation that they have been put off due to concerns of COVID-19 in the run-up to the once-in-five-year-congress of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), which is due later this year.
The Congress - schedule for which is yet to be announced - is significant as it is widely expected to confer an unprecedented third five-year term to President Xi. With his status as "core leader" similar to party founder Mao Zedong, Xi, 68, is now expected to remain China's leader for life.
Earlier reports said it could be advanced to be held in the next two months or later this year.
As part of those preparations, authorities have been ordered to remove any potential social and political risks, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Friday.
Hangzhou-based political analyst Wen Kejian said with just months to go until the party congress is held in autumn, the main reason for the delay to the Asian Games was COVID-19 prevention and control.
"The outbreak and situation in Shanghai is a lesson learnt and (has) put officials [in Hangzhou] under a lot of pressure not to let the situation get out of hand," Wen told the Post.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 situation in capital Beijing appeared disquieting as the city on Friday ordered three-day continuous nucleic acid tests from Saturday to determine the extent of the spread of Omicron variant of coronavirus.
Already the city has conducted six rounds of such tests.
On Thursday, approximately 20.74 million people in Beijing were sampled for nucleic acid testing after which the city has reported 66 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases.
China is reported to have spent about USD 257 billion since last year for COVID-19 care and prevention, costing about 1.5 per cent of its GDP, the Post reported.
One area in Beijing's high-profile Chaoyang District housing top leaders and diplomatic enclaves was upgraded from a medium-risk area for COVID-19 to a high-risk area, bringing the total number of high-risk areas in Beijing to 18.
Beijing now has 30 medium-risk areas, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Shanghai, which was under lockdown for about a month, reported a decline in the number of newly-reported positive infections in a single day for two consecutive weeks.
The city reported 245 confirmed cases and 4,024 asymptomatic local cases on Thursday.
Apart from Shanghai, 12 other provincial-level regions on the mainland saw new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, including 66 in Beijing and 24 in Henan, the Health Commission said.
Despite the decline in cases, Shanghai continued to report COVID-19 deaths as 12 more people died on Thursday taking the total to 522 in the recent outbreak. PT
