All the participating athletes and Games participants at next years Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, scheduled to be held in Beijing, will not have to undergo mandatory quarantine if they are fully vaccinated, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced.
All those fully vaccinated people will enter the ‘closed-loop management system upon arrival and will be able to travel and train at the venues, according to the Covid-19 related Standard Operating Protocols (SOP) prepared by the organising committee for the Games.
However, participants, who are not fully vaccinated, will have to serve a 21-day quarantine upon arrival in Beijing.
While the Winter Olympics will be held from February 4-20, 2022, the Winter Paralympic Games will be held from March 4-13, 2022.
Meanwhile, only domestic spectators will be allowed for the event and tickets will be sold only to those from mainland China that are fully vaccinated, the Organising Committee has announced.
The Committee also announced that participants, even if fully vaccinated, will have to adhere to Covid-19 protocols like wearing a mark, sanitization, and social distancing and will also be tested for Covid-19 daily.
The principles were presented by the Organising Committee for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympic Games (Beijing 2022) to the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)in Lausanne, Switzerland, in the presence of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), on Wednesday.
Both the IOC and IPC have accepted these recommendations and they will be included in the playbooks that IOC will soon release, it was announced.
As per reports, the Playbooks for the showpiece event will be released in late October and December.
“From January 23 until the end of the Paralympics, a closed-loop management system will be implemented to ensure the safe delivery of the Games. This closed-loop management system will cover all Games-related areas, including arrival and departure, transport, accommodation, catering, competitions, and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Within the closed loop, participants will be allowed to move only between Games-related venues for training, competitions, and work. A dedicated Games transport system will be put in place,” the IOC release said.
All attendees will enter a strict bubble upon arrival that covers Games-related areas and stadiums as well as accommodation, catering and the opening and closing ceremonies.
Besides athletes and some delegation officials accompanying athletes living in the Village, all participants travelling to the host city of Beijijng will have to stay Beijing 2022-contracted hotels. All such hotels will be compliant with the Covid-19 countermeasures for the Games.
Earlier, spectators were also banned from all venues at the recently concluded Tokyo 2020 Games after it was delayed a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.