Further spectator restrictions for Winter Olympics amid omicron detection in Beijing
Further spectator restrictions for Winter Olympics amid omicron detection in Beijing
China has announced that tickets to the Winter Olympics will no longer be sold to the general public, as Beijing recorded its first case of the highly transmissible omicron variant.
The organisers of the Beijing Winter Olympics have announced that only "selected" spectators will be permitted at next month's event because of the pandemic.
Beijing had already limited tickets to the Games to domestic spectators however Beijing’s Winter Olympics Organizing Committee announced yesterday this would be further restricted with only certain approved groups allowed as spectators, after undergoing strict measures to prevent transmission of the virus.
The announcement posted on the organising committee's website on Monday 17th January confirmed expectations that the Winter Games would have few onlookers at the venues, under even more strict conditions than imposed during last year's Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
In its statement, the organising committee said its measures were intended to "create a pleasant environment for the holding of the Games."
"Given the difficult and complicated work of controlling the epidemic, and to protect the health and safety of those involved with the Games, the original plan of offering tickets to the general public has been altered toward spectators from selected groups," the statement said.
The single case of omicron registered on Saturday in Beijing sparked mass testing of 13,000 residents who might have crossed paths with the patient, who authorities said visited several restaurants and malls before testing positive. It also led Beijing to bar entry to anyone who has visited any Chinese city that recorded even a single case of the coronavirus in the past 14 days.
In recent weeks, China has gone to extraordinary lengths to prevent the spread of omicron – at times locking down entire cities. Authorities are concerned that much of the country may lack immunity with China’s vaccines reported to be less effective against omicron and with most of the population still waiting for a booster shot.
Image: Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects preparations for the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Credit: Xinhua.
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