Life in the Beijing Olympics 'closed loop'
Masks, daily PCR tests, non-stop disinfection and locked gates.
Welcome to life inside Beijing’s "closed loop".
This parallel world has been designed to keep all event personnel and athletes away from the local population during the Winter Olympics in a bid to stop COVID-19 from spreading.
Once you’re in, there is no way out.
From sports stars to volunteers, those inside will eat, sleep, work and compete inside the bubble.
The secured area is fenced off from the rest of the city, and people move around on a designated transport system.
Angie Teo is Reuters senior visuals journalist and is experiencing the closed loop first hand.
“I’ve just done my first PCR test of the day and today I'm going to show you how we usually travel from the bubble hotel to the main press centre where most of the media are working at the moment. Are you ready? Let's go."
…"So usually after our PCR test we'll then have to go through the security check before we can go and take a bus. Now, before going through the security check, we'll have to do a verification for COVID-19 sampling, basically it's just to make sure that we've done our test for the day. So let's see. Which basically means that I have done my test, now it's time to go out."
China has isolated itself with a zero-tolerance policy. All Olympics participants are arriving on special charter planes.
Once they land, strict COVID-19 controls are in place throughout, from robots spraying disinfectant, to plexiglas screens and mandatory mask wearing.
Organizers have said they are confident in the system and that the strict control measures will help prevent clustered cases inside the closed loop.
However, some inside the loop like YTN sports reporter Eunji Cho have some concerns.
"While I think it is safe not to interact with the Chinese public, but I'm a bit worried that what would happen if someone was infected within the bubble, will it spread? What if someone is infected, and we are trapped here as if we were in prison, I would be very worried that I could get it.”
200 cases have been reported since January 23 among airport arrivals and those in the bubble.
Chinese officials said on Tuesday (February 1) the numbers are within the "expected controllable range".
