Photo:VCG

 
All athletes for Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics and all Games participants who are fully vaccinated will enter a closed-loop management system upon arrival in Beijing. This was part of the key COVID-19 countermeasures the Beijing 2022 Organising Committee presented to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board meeting on Wednesday.

These countermeasures are adopted to ensure that the 2022 Games are held safely as scheduled and to ensure the safety and health of athletes and all stakeholders, the Beijing 2022 organizers announced.

According to the Beijing 2022 organizers, Games participants who are not fully vaccinated will have to serve a 21-day quarantine upon arrival in Beijing. All vaccines recognized by World Health Organization or related international organizations or approved officially by countries or regions concerned will be accepted. Athletes who can provide a justified medical exemption will have their cases considered.

As for the audience, Beijing 2022 organizers made it clear that tickets will be sold exclusively to spectators residing in the Chinese mainland who meet the requirements of COVID-19 countermeasures.

The closed-loop management system, to be implemented from January 23, 2022 until the end of the Paralympics on March 13, will cover all Games-related areas, including arrival and departure, transport, accommodation, catering, competitions, and the opening and closing ceremonies. Within the closed-loop, participants will be allowed to move only between Games-related venues for training, competitions and work. A dedicated Games transport system will be put in place.

Specific requirements on COVID-19 countermeasures and the details of ticketing arrangements are under discussion and development, and will be released to the public in due course once they are finalized.

Beijing 2022 will release the first version of the Playbooks in late October and the second version in December. The related policies will be detailed in the Playbooks.

The IOC Executive Board meeting was chaired by President Thomas Bach, in the presence of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Andrew Parsons.

Global Times

Beijing 2022 prioritizes COVID-19 prevention and control Infographic: Yang Ruoyu/GT