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 The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Organising Committee has reported
200 COVID cases since Jan. 23 among airport arrivals and those in
the Games "closed loop" bubble that separates all event personnel,
including athletes, from the public.
"As more people are entering China the imported COVID-19 cases are
increasing," Huang Chun, deputy director general of the committee's
Pandemic Prevention and Control Office, told a news briefing.
Huang said rising cases were also a result of more effective and
accurate COVID detection techniques by customs.
Organisers reported 24 new COVID cases among Games-related personnel
on Jan. 31, of which 16 were athletes.
Many athletes have been ruled out of the Feb. 4-20 Games after
testing positive on arrival at the airport while others who are
asymptomatic are isolating.
Three of the 414 members of the Canadian delegation in Beijing were
impacted by China's COVID-19 protocols over their ability to fulfill
their roles at Games, the Canadian Olympic Committee said in a
statement on Tuesday.
"Part of our strategy was to arrive early to allow time for
confirmation testing and, if necessary, the Medical Expert Panel
process to unfold," it said.
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 One of the positive cases is an athlete,
although the Canadian committee did not disclose
the name for privacy reasons.
"Getting to the Olympics is never easy and this
time, as a new mom, it has been the most
challenging," Elana Meyers Taylor, a three-times
Olympic medalist in bobsled, wrote on social
media from her isolation hotel.
China credits the strict COVID control measures,
including frequent nucleic acid testings, for
helping prevent clustered cases inside the
closed loop.
"(The COVID-19 situation) is generally within
our expected controllable range. So the Games
participants, including athletes, and Chinese
public do not have to worry," said Huang.
He said Olympics organisers were not considering
any major changes to COVID control policies at
the Games.
(Reporting by Muyu Xu and Engen Tham; Additional
reporting by Hritika Sharma, Editing by Himani
Sarkar, Michael Perry and Ed Osmond)
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