Beijing 2022, the countdown of the ‘armored’ Games for Covid has begun

The Winter Olympic Games scheduled for next February in Beijing are shaping up to be different from any other Olympic competition due to China’s rigorous ‘zero Covid strategy’. One hundred days before the start of the Games, it is increasingly clear that there will be little freedom of movement for athletes, coaches, aides and journalists. All participants will be able to move only in ‘closed circuits’, from arrival to departure, from the bed to the competition venues, all in hermetically sealed transport systems. Periodic checks will be carried out for Covid-19 while those who are not vaccinated will first have to spend three weeks in forced quarantine. The Games from 4 to 20 February, followed by the Paralympics from 4 to 13 March, will be very different from the Summer Games in Japan in July and August. If Tokyo has sometimes been dubbed a ‘bubble with many holes’, China is building what are described as ‘double walls’. The goal is to prevent even a single infection from being introduced into the country in an uncontrolled manner. Although there was initial criticism of the slow reaction to the very first cases of infection in December 2019 in central China, authorities have since responded firmly and quickly with curfews, quarantines, mass testing and contact tracing. Since mid-2020, China has seen only minor outbreaks. The Asian country has also largely isolated itself from foreign countries, the few who can enter are required to spend up to three weeks in a quarantine facility.After the 2008 Olympics, Beijing will be the only location where they were held. the Summer and Winter Games. The competitions will take place in three locations: in the capital itself, in the Yanqing suburb and in Zhangjiakou in nearby Hebei province.