Just a few days out from the opening ceremony for the Beijing Winter Olympics, organisers are determined that the impacts of COVID-19 should not be felt as much as they were at last year's Tokyo Summer Games.
To combat it, they will undertake what is thought to be the largest 'bubble' ever seen during the pandemic, as games participants are scrutinised on their way into China
There's no doubt travelling looks very different these days, but entering Beijing for the Winter Olympics shows how seriously Games organisers are taking the COVID risk.
Anyone arriving for the Games will enter what’s called the 'closed-loop' system.
Essentially organisers have created one large Olympic bubble, where movement is restricted to inside that loop, which includes all hotels and official venues.
"We're building on, not only lessons learned from Tokyo, but several other sporting events and we're essentially using the same systems to ensure Beijing will be safe," says Beijing 2022 medical chair Dr Brian McCloskey.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach is adamant Tokyo's success has paved the way for Beijing to repeat it.
"We have great confidence that we can build on our experience, and stage a safe and successful Winter Games," he says.
And to achieve that, they’re taking no chances on the ground.
Volunteers in full hazmat suits guide you through Beijing airport, and throat and nasal tests are taken, before participants are transported by buses under police escort to their designated Olympic hotel.
But organisers concede the strategy is not without risk
"We have never set a target of zero cases in the closed loop," says Dr McCloskey. "The target is zero spread and the closed loop is there because that's what protects the people of China."
That's what the entire closed-loop policy is centred around - protecting Beijing's population, by ensuring those who arrive for the Games cannot mix with the general public.
"Our priority in all of this is to ensure the Games will be safe," says Dr McCloskey
Beijing will host the second Olympics in eight months, after last year's Summer Games at Tokyo, and just as it was then, COVID is dominating the early headlines.
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