Omicron: zero spread, not zero cases, is IOC’s target for Winter Olympics with 72 positive tests detected so far in pre-Games build-up
- Brian McCloskey, the Beijing 2022 medical chief, says the closed loop meant to seal the Olympic family from the rest of China is serving its purpose
- Around 340,000 tests have been conducted among Winter Games arrivals from January 4-22, with no athlete yet to test positive
A “zero infection” model is impossible for next month’s Beijing Winter Olympics, a top medical official said, with organisers more realistically looking at a “zero spread” system to keep the population of China safe.
Brian McCloskey, head of the Beijing 2022 Medical Expert Panel, said the highly transmissible Omicron variant remains a concern but said the “closed loop” that seals the Olympic family from the rest of the country was so far serving its purpose.
Already, 72 confirmed positive Covid-19 cases have been detected from around 340,000 tests conducted from January 4-22.
“We are obviously concerned that the Omicron variant will make a difference,” McCloskey said during an IOC online technical briefing. “And what we are seeing all around the world outside China is the numbers of Covid cases going up rapidly because of Omicron, therefore we expect to see more positive cases in people in pre-departure because that’s the nature of the disease.
“But gradually the numbers come down at each level of the testing that we do in the closed loop. Inside the closed loop the numbers are still relatively small for athletes but for other stakeholders it is still roughly on par with what we saw in Tokyo [Olympics last year] and what we expected.
