Winter Olympics: Organisers detail Covid-19 rules for Beijing Winter Olympics

A woman adjusts her face mask as she walks by a statue featuring the Beijing Winter Olympics figure skating on display at the Shougang Park in Beijing. Photo / AP

A 21-day quarantine for non-fully vaccinated athletes, officials and workers at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Daily testing for vaccinated people. No tickets sold to anyone living outside China.

Restrictions imposed to control the COVID-19 pandemic at the next Winter Games in February were announced today by the International Olympic Committee.

While not imposing a vaccine mandate, organisers in Beijing plan stricter rules than applied at the Tokyo Olympics where vaccination was advised though not demanded within a strict regime of testing.

"Games participants who are not fully vaccinated will have to serve a 21-day quarantine upon arrival in Beijing," the IOC said in a statement.

Olympic athletes can ask to avoid quarantine, the IOC said, for a "justified medical exemption" — a phrase that appeared to exclude ideological objections to vaccines.

It will be the second straight Olympics during the pandemic where families of athletes cannot visit the host country to watch the events.

The IOC acknowledged "all parties feel for the athletes and the spectators from around the world."

Guests of stakeholders such as sports bodies, sponsors and broadcasters will also be excluded.

Olympic organisers plan to operate a health security bubble — called a "closed-loop management system" — even for vaccinated people from Jan. 23, almost two weeks before the Winter Games open Feb. 4.

It will stay in place for almost two months until after the Beijing Paralympic Winter Games close on March 13.

"Within the closed loop, participants will be allowed to move only between games-related venues for training, competitions and work," the IOC said, promising a "dedicated games transport system."

Preparing for the Beijing Winter Olympics has been affected with nearly all international sports competitions at games venues canceled since the COVID-19 outbreak spread from China in January 2020.

- AP