BEIJING (Reuters) – Daily COVID-19 infections among athletes and team officials at the Beijing Winter Olympics jumped to 19 on Friday from just two the day before, with Games organizers warning of more infections in the next days.
Including athletes and officials, 36 people associated with the Games were infected: 29 when they arrived at Beijing airport and seven already in the “closed bubble” that separates the event team from the public, the organizing committee said on Saturday.
“We are now going through the peak period of people arriving in China and therefore we expect to see the highest numbers at this stage,” Games medical director Brian McCloskey told a news conference.
Organizers are “confident” in their COVID-19 prevention system and infections are unlikely to leak to the public, McCloskey said.
Cases among athletes and team officials surpassed those of “other stakeholders” including media, sponsors and officials for the first time since China began publishing daily numbers of Olympic-related coronavirus cases on Jan. a Reuters count of past statements.
“It’s annoying that every morning you have to wake up a little earlier, especially for a PCR test. I think in a few days it will be like brushing your teeth,” Russian hockey player Anton Slepyshev told the RIA news agency.
“Everyone is worried that the test result will suddenly be positive. But the reality is that we are living with COVID. We accept all risks and fears,” he said.
The Games will take place from Friday to February 20, in a bubble sealed off from the rest of China, where the government’s zero-tolerance policy against COVID-19 has virtually closed the country’s border to international arrivals.
(Reporting by Yew Lun Tian; additional reporting by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber and Joseph Campbell)
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