Organisers of the Beijing Winter Olympics have eased a Covid-19 testing requirement for participants, amid a growing number of cases in the capital.
The new change makes it easier for participants arriving at the Games to be considered virus-free.
Of more than 3,000 Olympic arrivals, 106 have tested positive for the virus since January 4.
Outside of the tournament’s closed-off premises, Beijing locals are facing harsher restrictions and new lockdowns.
Around two million residents in Beijing’s Fengtai district have been told to test, as a handful of locally transmitted cases were found earlier this week.
Locals who bought over-the-counter treatments for fever or cough symptoms have also been told to do a test within three days of the purchase.
Chinese officials are aiming to stamp out small outbreaks of the virus before the Games begin on February 4, as Beijing continues its zero-Covid strategy. Games officials, however, say they expect more cases to emerge, with Dr Brian McCloskey, the chair of the Beijing 2022 Olympics medical expert panel, telling a media briefing on Sunday that organisers’ aims were “zero spreader” not “zero cases.
He added that the challenge lay in organisers detecting and isolating positive people quickly.
