Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee: ready to handle COVID-19

The Beijing Organizing Committee (BOC) for the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games said on Saturday it was ready to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We don't want it, but we are fully prepared," Huang Chun, deputy director general of the Pandemic Prevention and Control Office of the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee, said in an interview with China Media Group (CMG), in which he also revealed the organizers' priorities during the Games.

"We have four goals. First, no massive gathering of overseas participants at Beijing 2022; second, no spread of the pandemic or interruption of the Winter Games because of ineffective COVID-19 prevention; third, no break-up of the closed loop or outbreak of local cases because of a pandemic inside the loop; fourth, no other public health incident like food poisoning."

Athletes of the Russian Curling Federation in the World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2021 bronze match at the "Ice Cube" in Beijing, China, October 30, 2021. /CFP

Huang said that all Chinese athletes and staff will be required to take a COVID-19 booster shot. Foreign athletes will be encouraged to do the same but it will not be compulsory.

According to the playbooks released by the BOC, the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, all participants will have a nucleic acid test daily. Huang said testing services will be available 24 hours per day so that everyone can take them at their convenience.

Multiple press conferences have been held by the BOC Committee since the release of the playbooks to answer questions about COVID-19 protocols at the Winter Games. Recent test events all followed the same protocols including the closed loop, and most athletes and coaches spoke highly of BOC's work, according to Huang.

（CGTN）