Beijing follows Tokyo. / Picture: REUTERS
Foreign Olympic fans will also be denied access to the Winter Games in Beijing 2022. After the exclusion of all spectators from the Summer Games in Tokyo, at least the locals are allowed to attend the competitions in China if they meet the strict Corona requirements. This decision by the Chinese organizers was approved by the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday. Unvaccinated athletes have to be in quarantine for three weeks after entry.
Exceptions are possible if athletes can provide a medical justification that a vaccination against the coronavirus is not possible. For all participants in the Winter Games, a closed bubble will be set up around the competition venues from January 23rd, which must not be left. This screened area also includes accommodation and its own Olympic transportation system.
Those involved in the Winter Games from February 4th to 20th are only allowed to move within the bubble for training units and competitions as well as for their respective work. All participants and helpers have to take a daily corona test.
Working quarantine for the entire period
Similar measures already applied to the Summer Games in Japan. There, however, foreigners were allowed to move freely in Tokyo 14 days after entering the country. In Beijing, apparently, a work quarantine is planned for the entire period of stay. Officials who are not staying in the Olympic village, as well as media representatives and other parties involved, must stay in specially designated hotels, in which strict corona measures apply.
The organizers urge that incoming delegations be kept as small as possible. They wanted to concentrate on the essentials, it said. Therefore, the IOC canceled its program for sponsored guests again. Further details of the Corona measures for the Winter Games are to be published at the end of October. The Chinese government is pursuing a “zero covid strategy”. With curfews, mass tests, contact tracing, quarantine and strict entry restrictions, the country has the coronavirus largely under control.
The same spectator restrictions also apply to the Paralympics in March. Details for the conditions for the ticket allocation are still being negotiated, it said. Empty arenas like those in Tokyo should be avoided.
[RP7KL]
