Olympics-Beijing 2022 reports 72 COVID-19 cases among Games personnel from Jan 4-22

Beijing Olympics organisers said on Sunday that they had confirmed 72 cases of COVID-19 among 2,586 Games-related personnel arriving in China from Jan 4 to Jan 22, with no cases among the 171 athletes and team officials arriving during that period.

Final preparations are taking place for the Winter Games amid a global surge in cases of the highly infectious Omicron coronavirus variant. The Games are set to take place from Feb. 4 to Feb. 20 inside a "closed loop" bubble that separates all event personnel from the public.

Of the confirmed positive cases, 39 were found in testing at the airport and 33 inside the "closed loop" bubble that separates all event personnel from the public. Participants in the bubble are subject to daily testing.

All Games participants need two negative PCR test results within 96 hours of their departure to China, and most are travelling on specially arranged charter flights.

Last week, organisers said that tickets for the Olympics would not be sold to the general public due to COVID-19, and would instead be distributed to groups of people who would be required to undertake strict prevention measures before, during and after attending events.

China has managed to contain domestic outbreaks of COVID-19 since it first emerged in the central city of Wuhan, and has all but shut its borders to international arrivals.

On Sunday, Beijing's city government introduced further measures to contain COVID-19 after finding nine locally transmitted cases the previous day.