Increased COVID-19 Cases At Beijing Winter Olympics No Reason For Concern: Organisers

COVID-19 cases inside Beijing's Winter Olympic Games bubble hit the second highest since arrivals began after 45 new cases were detected on Feb. 4, but organisers say the situation is under control and cases confined to the "closed loop". The cases among Olympics-related personnel were up from 21 a day earlier while cases in the bubble that restricts the movements of Games participants, reached 19, compared with seven a day earlier.

February 2 saw the highest daily figure in the loop so far with 26 and the highest total daily figure with 55.

Games organisers said that while cases within the loop could continue rising, there was no reason for concern.

The loop allows athletes, officials and media to move between their accommodation and all Olympic venues, including the media centre, but on official transport only.

However, they are forbidden to leave the bubble and move freely in the city, as China looks to minimise the risk of foreign visitors spreading the coronavirus during the Games.

"The numbers (of overall positive cases) have been different every day," Huang Chun, the Games' deputy director-general of the office of pandemic prevention and control, told a news conference on Saturday.

He said the different daily infection number from Games-related personnel, that had reached 55 on Feb. 2 and as few as two on Jan. 23, was related to the flight arrival times, with some tests conducted after midnight.

"The day before yesterday we had almost 20 flights, many flights arriving at midnight," he said. "Some of the numbers have to be accumulated to the next day."

Every participant has to arrive in Beijing with two negative PCR tests taken less than 96 hours prior to their departure.

They are then tested at Beijing airport