Organisers of the Beijing Winter Olympics have gone the extra mile to ensure safety of the participants at the upcoming Games.
While last year's Summer Tokyo Olympics took place in a porous 'bubble', the perimeters of Beijing's 'closed loop' are sealed and guarded in an effort to combat Covid-19's highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Once inside the closed loop, people cannot leave until they either depart the country or complete several weeks of quarantine. This includes about 20,000 Chinese volunteers and staff at the venues.
The loop began on January 4 and opened fully by January 23. Authorities are determined to create a physical barrier between participants and the general population, with the loop covering sealed-off sections of Olympic venues and designated accommodation. Participants are required to move between them using designated transport services.
Food delivery from restaurants outside the loop is not allowed. At the main press centre, some of the food is prepared and served by robot chefs that assemble hamburgers and deliver dishes to tables from an overhead grid. There are even coffee-making robots at the Taizicheng train station in Zhangjiakou, which is one of the venues for the Games.
As expected, regular sanitisation is being carried out throughout the bubble.
More than 2,000 international athletes are set to arrive in China for the Games, along with 25,000 other stakeholders. However, there will be no international spectators at the Beijing Games. The Olympics begin on February 4.
