Beijing steps up COVID curbs as Games nears
Print Edition
CHINA’S latest COVID-19 outbreak has forced Beijing to delay its annual marathon race and step up other curbs, as the sprawling city and neighboring Hebei Province go into high gear in their preparations for the 2022 Winter Olympics Games.
China reported 35 new domestically transmitted cases for Sunday, official data showed yesterday. Beijing accounted for 14 of the 168 cases reported between October 17-24.
National health officials warned on Sunday that the latest cluster, caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant and involving many carriers who recently traveled across some provinces, is increasingly likely to expand further.
Beijing has banned the entry of people from other cities with cases, and closed indoor venues such as some chess and card parlors, even in districts without infections.
In Hebei, which has reported only three local confirmed cases so far in the ongoing flare-up, people commuting between two county-level areas and the Beijing city are required to show proof of employment and negative test results within seven days of travel.
Baoding city in Hebei said it required people who intend to visit venues of Winter Olympics events in Beijing and in Hebei’s Zhangjiakou City to have proof of negative test results within 48 hours. Baoding reported two local asymptomatic infections for October 21, which China counts separately from confirmed cases.
A few cities in Hebei, including those without local infections, have advised residents not to leave town for unnecessary reasons.
In Hebei’s capital Shijiazhuang City, a marathon race was delayed after one local case was found for October 23.
Ejin Banner, a small division in the autonomous Inner Mongolia region and one of the hardest-hit areas in the outbreak, has asked residents and travelers to stay indoors. It banned outbound travel last week.
A few provinces and cities in China said they are starting to vaccinate children aged 3-11 against COVID-19, while 76 percent of China’s 1.4 billion population have already received complete doses and eligible people are getting one booster shot.
Also, China published a playbook that outlines anti-COVID-19 measures for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. It specifies that a closed-loop management system will be applied during the Games.
Participants can move freely inside the closed-loop area, traveling in dedicated vehicles between games venues and accommodation facilities, and between the three competition zones of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, explained Huang Chun, deputy director-general of the Pandemic Prevention and Control Office at the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee.
“The system will make sure everyone including athletes, press and other stakeholders in the closed-loop can perform the day-to-day activities essential to their roles during the Games, and at the same time separate them from the general public or anyone outside of the closed-loop,” said Wang Quanyi, deputy director of Public Health Office of the Games Service Department of BOCOG.
“There will be food and beverages catered for culturally diverse backgrounds, licensed product stores, fitness centers and entertainment centers to ensure participants a comfortable stay inside the closed-loop,” he added.
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