ATHLETES will need to be vaccinated—or face a long quarantine—take tests daily and wear masks when not competing or training.
Clapping is OK to cheer on teammates, not chanting. Anyone who tests positive for Covid-19 will be sent into isolation and unable to compete until cleared for discharge.
Welcome to the Beijing Olympics, where strict containment measures will aim to create a virus-proof “bubble” for thousands of international visitors at a time when Omicron is fueling infections globally.
The prevention protocols will be similar to those at the Tokyo Games last summer, but much tighter. That won’t be a stretch in Beijing, with China having maintained a “Zero Covid” policy since early in the pandemic.
Still, China’s ability to stick to its zero-tolerance approach nationally is already being tested by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, which is more contagious than earlier variants of the virus and better able to evade protection from vaccines.
With just weeks to go before the February 4 start of the Games, more than 20 million people in six cities are under lockdown after recent outbreaks.
BEIJING REPORTS FIRST OMICRON CASE
BEIJING has reported its first local Omicron infection, according to state media, weeks before the Winter Olympic Games are due to start.
The infected person lives and works in the city’s northwestern district of Haidian and had no travel history outside of Beijing for the past two weeks.
The individual experienced symptoms on Thursday and was tested on Friday for Covid-19, officials said in a news conference Saturday during which they confirmed the infection.
The infection comes less than three weeks before the Winter Olympic Games’ opening ceremony on February 4., and around two weeks before the start of Lunar New Year celebrations in China.
So far, multiple cities in China have reported Omicron infections, including Shanghai, the western city of Xi’an, cities in southern Guangdong province such as Zhuhai and Zhongshan, and the city of Tianjin, which is 30 minutes from Beijing by high-speed rail.
Image credits: AP