Tickets for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games will not be available to the general public due to COVID-19.
Instead, tickets will only be distributed to specific groups of spectators invited by the organizers of the event, the International Olympic Committee announced Monday.
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“The organisers expect that these spectators will strictly abide by the COVID-19 countermeasures before, during, and after each event so as to help create an absolutely safe environment for the athletes,” the IOC said in a statement.
The IOC did not elaborate on how organizers planned to distribute those tickets. Last September, China released its principles for public safety practices during the Winter Olympics. It said that tickets would only be sold to residents of mainland China who follow the government’s COVID-19 policies.
The announcement comes amid a surge of COVID-19 cases around the world due to the onset of the omicron variant. Beijing reported its first case of “locally transmitted” omicron on Jan. 15, the Guardian reported. It also locked down a third city, Anyang, last week due to a COVID-19 outbreak in the area.
The Games will feature a “closed-loop management system” for participants that includes specific venues, hotels, catering, and transportation, according to the principles China released for the Games. Anyone participating in the Games is supposed to remain within the closed loop for the duration of the games. No one else is supposed to enter.
Everyone within the loop is expected to be vaccinated or to have quarantined for at least 21 days prior to the start of the Games. Participants will also be tested regularly for COVID-19. A positive test will mean that a participant can no longer continue their role in the Games.
The Winter Olympics are set to start Feb. 4, and the Paralympics are set to start March 4. The location of the games in China has sparked international controversy due to human rights concerns.
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Countries have condemned reports that China has rounded up hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and placed them into forced labor camps. Due to these concerns, multiple countries have announced they will not send diplomats to the games.
The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Lithuania, and Canada have all announced diplomatic boycotts of the event. They will send athletes but not diplomats. Similarly, Denmark, Japan, New Zealand, and the Netherlands also announced they were sending athletes but not diplomats. However, those four countries did not necessarily describe their actions as a diplomatic boycott, Forbes reported.
