Winter Olympics-related Covid-19 cases tick up as more teams arrive in China
- Organising committee official says increase expected as more participants land in Beijing
- Isolation period within Games’ closed loop halved and virus did not appear to be spreading, he says
The Beijing Winter Olympics organising committee said 29 of the 36 positive cases were among 1,418 Olympic-related arrivals at Beijing Capital International Airport on Friday. Of those, 19 were athletes or team officials, and 10 were “other stakeholders” – a category that includes the media and Games partners.
The committee said the remaining seven confirmed cases were also other stakeholders and detected within the closed-loop, a system set up to isolate the event and minimise transmission of the disease.
Games participants enter the closed loop on arrival in Beijing, a city battling to contain outbreaks of the Omicron and Delta variants.
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Dozens of positive Covid cases found in Beijing Olympic bubble and airport ahead of Winter Olympics
The total is above the 12 cases detected among Olympics-related personnel on Thursday, and the 23 were reported for Wednesday.