After limiting fans at Olympics, Beijing ramps up testing due to Omicron

Update (Jan. 24, 2022): Since it was announced that selected fans would be allowed at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, the city has seen a new cluster of COVID-19 cases fueled by the Omicron variant. In response, Beijing authorities have tested millions of residents and imposed new measures two weeks ahead of the games.

Beijing officials said they would conduct a second round of mass testing of the Fengtai district’s 2 million residents. The majority of the 40 COVID-19 cases reported in Beijing since Jan. 15 have been Fengtai residents. Authorities also announced that anyone who buys or has bought fever, cough or certain other medicines in the past two weeks would be required to take a COVID-19 test within 72 hours.

“The current epidemic prevention situation is still grim and complicated and all departments across the city must act proactively and swiftly,” Beijing city spokesperson Xu Hejian said. “The overall situation is controllable.”

Original Story (Jan. 17, 2022): Organizers with the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing announced Monday that “selected” fans will be allowed to attend the games. The announcement was a further tightening of the attendance rules released this past September. Those rules called for tickets to “be sold exclusively to spectators residing in China’s mainland who meet the requirements of COVID-19 countermeasures.”

“Given the current grave and complicated situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and to ensure the safety of all participants and spectators, it was decided that tickets should not be sold anymore but be part of an adapted program that will invite groups of spectators to be present on site during the Games,” the organizing committee said in a Monday news release. “The organizers expect that these spectators will strictly abide by the COVID-19 countermeasures before, during and after each event as pre-conditions for the safe and sound delivery of the Games.”

Monday’s announcement about fans came as Beijing officials were considering stronger restrictions on travel ahead of the Olympics, according to Monday state media reports. Other steps Beijing officials and China as a whole are taking to clamp down on any potential outbreaks include:

• Starting Jan. 22, Beijing will require travelers to take nucleic acid tests within 72 hours of entry.
• Some schools in Beijing have also closed early and moved classes online ahead of the winter holidays.
• China has urged residents to not travel to other cities for Chinese New Year celebrations. The new year begins just days before the Beijing Olympics open.
• Tourist sites have closed.
• Millions of Chinese people have been placed under lockdown.

These steps have not prevented the Omicron variant of COVID-19 from reaching Beijing. The first reported case in the city caught national attention over the weekend. It was in a 26-year-old woman who reportedly visited high-end shops in the city before showing symptoms.

In response, more than 13,000 people and all the shops she reportedly visited have been tested. Her apartment and workplace was sealed off as well.