Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport. Photo: CFP

Two people in Beijing were detained by the police for spreading rumors that claimed residents were required to alter their commute times due to the US Olympic delegation's arrival at the city's airport, the Beijing police announced on Friday.

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games on Wednesday dismissed the rumors via its official Weibo account, after the rumors claimed that 370 members of the US delegation will arrive at Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport on Friday and that residents would need to adjust their commute times. 

Two men surnamed Qi, 27, and Cao, 44, are under local police custody with the incident being further investigated. 

During the Games, all overseas athletes, team staff and officials arriving in Beijing will be placed under closed-loop management, and will have no direct contact with the general public for epidemic prevention. The arrival and departure of athletes will not affect regular commercial flights, the committee said, calling on netizens not to believe or spread rumors.  

Based on the second version of the Beijing 2022 Playbook, participants will have their temperature and health declaration checked in the aircraft upon arrival. They will then take a COVID-19 test, before being transported to accommodation where they are required to wait until test results are returned. 

For those who have been fully vaccinated, they will enter closed loop management, with those who have not been fully vaccinated placed under quarantine for 21 days at dedicated facilities before entering the closed loop system.

Pierre Ducrey, International Olympic Committee (IOC) Olympic Games Operations Director, has praised China's pre-Games closed-loop "very safe" with "a good number of" COVID-19 countermeasures in the Playbooks already in place.

"I am very impressed by the establishment of the pre-Games loop, which really allows the stakeholders to fulfill their work plan," he commented.

Global Times