“To attend the Olympics? No thanks. Since China announced, on January 17, that it was giving up selling tickets to the public, its “guests” have been trying by all means to decline their invitation, without offending either the Communist Party or the hierarchical superior who gave it to them. transmitted. The reason ? Being part of the public requires having previously stayed in Beijing for fourteen days, having received three doses of vaccine but also agreeing to remain under observation and to undergo new PCR tests at the end of the tests which one will have attended. .
These Games will, in fact, be held in exceptional sanitary conditions. While the Omicron variant, which appeared in China at the end of 2021 and spotted in the capital in mid-January, undermines the zero Covid policy, the authorities want to take advantage of the Games to show the world that this strategy remains, despite everything, the more effective against the spread of the virus.
Another imperative for the communist leaders: to reassure the population. For two years, the Chinese have, except in exceptional circumstances, no longer the right to leave the territory. Getting in is just as difficult because there are hardly any international flights left, and it requires self-isolation. After being tested negative less than 48 hours previously, you must quarantine between three and six weeks, depending on the city.
In addition, to protect the capital, no more international flights land there. All are diverted to other cities like Tianjin or Shanghai. And, since January 22, Chinese residents who want to travel to Beijing must present a negative test within 48 hours, and carry out a second one within three days of their arrival. A single positive case in their city or district of origin leads them to wait two weeks after the discovery of this case before accessing the capital.
bubbles and vaccines
For the past few weeks, the 23 million Beijingers have therefore been living in soft confinement which does not say its name. To make the relaxations induced by the holding of the Olympic Games acceptable, the organizers of the Games have found only one solution: to avoid any contact between the visitors and the rest of China. For the Olympic motto “Faster, higher, stronger”, China substitutes the triptych “Test, trace, isolate” which characterizes its anti-Covid-19 policy.
The Games will therefore take place in a health bubble which includes the training and competition sites, the Olympic and Paralympic villages, the hotels for the delegations and the transport inside this bubble.
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