Beijing Winter Olympics: athletes’ rubbish to stay inside Games bubble to stop coronavirus spread

Organisers to deploy team to prevent infection from garbage into the outside world
Waste will be held at temporary storage sites and transferred later for central processing

Beijing Winter Olympics 2022

Associated Press

Published: 3:50pm, 16 Dec 2021

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Beijing Winter Olympics organisers say measures to prevent cross-infections between athletes and the outside world are being extended to holding their rubbish inside the Games “bubble”.

Officials said on Thursday that a team of special workers would be deployed to collect and transfer garbage inside the bubble to prevent the risk of coronavirus leaking out into the outside world. The event begins on February 4.

Ma Boyang, who is in charge of Olympic village planning and operations, said the waste would be held at temporary storage sites, to be transferred later for central processing.

China has stressed the possibility of the virus being transmitted on inanimate objects, particularly frozen food.

Most experts have ruled out the possibility of infection through such channels, saying packaging carries only minute traces of virus, most likely deposited there by workers.

With the spread of the Omicron variant, concerns have again turned to preventing infections among athletes that could lead to quarantines for as long as five weeks.

Yan Jiarong, a spokesman for the organising committee, said health authorities were continuing to monitor the situation, but believed the “relevant preventive measures in the guidebook for pandemic prevention have undergone rigorous scientific evaluation and are effective in ensuring safety and preventing the spread of the epidemic”.

In the event of a positive test for the virus within the bubble, authorities would follow the same protocols as they would were it detected outside, Yan said.

“We believe that these measures can effectively reduce the risk of the pandemic and that they can not only ensure the safe and convenient participation of athletes and all Olympic personnel in training, matches and work, but also protect the health and safety of the Chinese people,” Yan said.

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China records second Omicron case, further tightens measures to contain latest Covid-19 outbreaks

The country has taken drastic measures, including frequent lockdowns and mass testing, to handle domestic outbreaks, although it has yet to stamp out infections entirely.

The National Health Commission on Thursday announced 69 new cases of domestic transmission, mainly in the eastern province of Zhejiang, far from the Games venues. China has detected at least two cases of the Omicron variant.

The spread of the mutation of the virus is the latest challenge to face the Beijing Games, already beset by technical and political challenges ranging from a lack of flights for athletes and staff to a diplomatic boycott from the United States and others to protest against China’s human rights abuses.