The resurgence of Covid-19 cases in China, which affects several provinces to varying degrees, has led the Chinese authorities to postpone, to an unspecified date, the Asian Games, which were to take place from September 10 to 25. “The Olympic Council of Asia [COA] announced that the 19are asian games (…) are postponed”announced Friday, May 6, Chinese public television CCTV on the Weibo social network. “New dates will be announced at a later date”said the television.
In a press release, the COA justified the decision by “the health situation”. The competitions were to be held in Hangzhou (east), less than 200 km southwest of Shanghai, the city most affected by the recent epidemic outbreak. The latter has been transformed into a huge prison for 26 million people for almost six weeks.
The Olympic Council of Asia has also announced the outright cancellation of the Asian Youth Games. Postponed for the first time, they were to take place in December in the Chinese city of Shantou (South).
“The time is long past when we can relax our efforts”
For the Asian Games, the organizers had planned to apply a coronavirus prevention plan based on that of the last Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, in February in Beijing, which had been a success in terms of health.
But the recent resurgence of the epidemic had not yet begun. However, the Chinese authorities are anxious to avoid any contamination within the population and have applied a zero Covid strategy since 2020. This consists of several measures: confinement as soon as a few cases appear, separation of people who test positive from the rest of the population, quarantine on arrival in the territory or even tracing of movements.
“The time is long past when we can relax our efforts to fight the virus”underlined, on Friday, the China Dailyorgan of the Communist Party. “China is a very populous country, and with many elderly people. With unbalanced economic development and a lack of medical resources, loosening control measures would cause a large epidemic, many serious illnesses and many deaths. The socio-economic development, health and safety of the population would be seriously affected”also insisted the standing committee of the political bureau – the seven men who run the country – in a press release published on Thursday.