Shanghai now has several confirmed local cases, caused by a returnee from the US according to official reports. I have not seen any information to suggest the variant is Omicron, but if it is then given the alleged spreader’s travel through Shanghai the risk is not low that the city will very quickly start having to lock down lots of areas.

Beijing is tightening its controls and I would not be surprised if fairly soon it will be nearly impossible to enter the city, until the Olympics conclude. They can not allow a large scale outbreak in Beijing around the Olympics, even outside the closed loop.

The sixth plenary session of the 19th CCDI will be held next week from Jan. 18 to 20. The propaganda is ramping up ahead of the meeting, and today we got news of the official charges against fallen former vice minister of Public Security Sun Lijun, though I do not think it is the real reason he went down. We will hear more from him over the next few days as a five-part series on fallen officia…