Beijing authorities have called on residents to avoid contact with participants in the Winter Games, which are supposed to take place in “closed circuit” to prevent the spread in China of the Omicron variant.
As the Winter Olympics are set to begin in China on February 4, the country seeks to maintain its zero Covid policy threatened by the highly contagious Omicron variant.
the South China Morning Post thus report that the authorities of the city of Beijing, which is hosting the event, “Recommended to residents to avoid any contact with Olympic vehicles and not even to try to come to the aid of the victims of a road accident”.
The locals, the residents “Involved in an accident with one of the vehicles carrying athletes, coaches and organizers should not ask the driver and passengers to get out, but wait for the arrival of ‘professionals’”, says the Hong Kong newspaper.
A bubble”
The aim is to keep the Games under a “Bubble”, “closed circuit”, according to official terms. The appearance of cases of Covid-19, which seems inevitable in the context of ALREADY, must not spread to the population.
“China has imposed strict constraints on the Games”, explains the South China Morning Post :
Everyone must be tested daily within the closed circuit ; spectators from abroad are excluded; and those who will attend the events are called not to shout or encourage the athletes. ”
Following the appearance of new cases in several cities of the country, “The capital is on alert”, explains the newspaper. “Of particular concern is the situation in Tianjin, a neighboring municipality […] which reported on the first locally transmitted cases of Omicron. The port city undertook to test its 13.8 million inhabitants on Sunday following having identified 20 positive cases including 2 of Omicron. ”
The authorities say they are confident
The participants of ALREADY vaccinated are however exempt from the three weeks of quarantine imposed on travelers. If they test positive, they will not be forced to go to the hospital but will have to isolate themselves in a facility provided for this purpose, explains the newspaper in another article.
“We are very confident in our ability to control the spread to the host city”, said a few weeks ago Huang Chun, responsible for controlling the epidemic for the organizing committee of the Olympic Games, quoted by the daily.
A key question remains unanswered, however, specifies the South China Morning Post. Authorities have yet to say whether the Chinese will be able to attend the Games as spectators.
Source
Hong Kong’s English-language daily newspaper has been owned by Jack Ma (Ma Yun), CEO of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, since April 2016. This acquisition gave rise to strong fears that the freedom of tone and the
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