The fast-spreading Omicron variant has hit China’s capital Beijing amid emerging COVID-19 clusters across the country, raising pressure on the regime to keep the virus at bay just three weeks before the city is due to stage the Olympic games. Beijing on Jan. 15 reported its first locally transmitted Omicron case from Haidian—the second-largest district located in the city’s northwest. The officials responded by sealing off 17 “risk areas” associated with the COVID-19 case. All residents from the neighborhood compound where the person lives have temporarily been barred from leaving their homes. Omicron’s detection in Beijing comes as cities across China have ratcheted up vigilance against the virus ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which are scheduled to start on Feb. 4. The variant is posing a fresh challenge for the regime, whose officials have doubled down on its zero-tolerance approach that had been a nationwide effort to bring the Delta …