Beijing 2022: WHO emergencies director ‘confident’ there won’t be an increased risk of Covid-19 because of Games
- WHO’s Michael Ryan makes declarative statement on the safety of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and its ‘closed-loop management system’
- Officials in China will impose daily testing for all attendees at the Olympics and look to quell any outbreak before it takes off through strict measures
Michael Ryan is confident the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing will not cause a Covid-19 outbreak because of strict controls and measures that will be in place during the Games.
The World Health Organization emergencies director said the countermeasures, which include a “closed-loop management system” and daily testing for all attendees, were initiatives spearheaded by Beijing 2022 officials and the International Olympic Committee.
Ryan expressed his thoughts as China deals with ongoing outbreaks that threaten its “zero Covid-19” strategy rather than treating the virus as endemic. The comments were first reported by the insidethegames.biz website, and the senior WHO official said from what he had seen the country was more than ready to handle the influx of people.
“The Chinese authorities have very strict measures in place, and they’ve released a series of different playbooks,” he said. “We continue to review those playbooks with the IOC.
“I’m confident that, given the information we have, that the measures that are in place for the Games are very strict and very strong and we don’t, at this point, see any increased risk of disease transmission in that context.”
Anyone within Beijing’s closed-loop will be unable to leave specific areas or move around with any freedom for the duration of the Games, which officially start on February 4 and run until the 20th.