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China insists Winter Olympics WILL go on despite Omicron

 

China expects to hold the 2022 Winter Olympics ‘smoothly’ and on schedule, despite challenges posed by the emergence of the new Omicron coronavirus variant.

The emergence of the new variant is having a knock-on effect around the world, with many countries tightening restrictions and adapting border policies as a result.

Omicron’s rise and potential spreading arrives as the winter period reaches its peak, though the games are said to have full prior planning and will press ahead as normal.

Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Tuesday: ‘I believe it will definitely pose some challenge to our efforts to prevent and control the virus, but as China has experience in preventing and controlling the coronavirus, I fully believe that China will be able to host the Winter Olympics as scheduled, smoothly and successfully,’

Beijing is set to stage the Games from February 4 to February 20, without foreign spectators and with all athletes and related personnel contained in a ‘closed loop’ and subject to daily testing for COVID-19.

Under its ‘zero-COVID’ policy, China has had what are among the world’s strictest COVID-19 prevention measures.

The nation has stuck to its zero-tolerance approach as other countries started re-opening – at least before Omicron arrived.

China has deployed some of the toughest methods in the world to contain its spread since the virus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan last year, including long quarantines and severe lockdowns.

The South African province where the Omicron Covid-19 variant was first detected has experienced a more than 300 percent increase in virus-related hospitalisations this week.

Professor Brendan Crabb, the director of the Burnet Institute in Melbourne, shared a stark warning to anyone underestimating the new variant and urged people to remain cautious.

‘Please stop. It’s dangerous to imply that it may be a good thing to allow SARS-Cov-2 of any sort to circulate,’ he tweeted on Tuesday. ‘It’s an unpredictable, still evolving new virus.’

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Over the summer much controversy surrounded the Olympics games in Tokyo, Japan. They pressed ahead despite widespread protests in the host country.

Cases of coronavirus were managed during the Games, though a spread was documented throughout athletes of various sporting disciplines.

 

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