China Says It Will Not Sell Tickets to Public for Winter Olympics As COVID-19 Cases Surge

China announced that they will not be selling tickets to next month’s Beijing Winter Olympic games as COVID-19 cases are surging in the nation. The country is seeing its highest number of cases since March 2020, CBS News reported.

"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," the Beijing 2022 organizing committee said in a statement.

The Winter Olympics start Feb. 4 and the Paralympics begin March 4.

"In terms of the grim and complex situation of epidemic prevention and control [and] in order to protect the health and safety of Olympic personnel and spectators, we have decided to change the original plan of public ticket sales," the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee announced Monday.

The games won’t be completely sans fans as groups of spectators will be invited throughout the Olympics and will be required to "strictly comply with COVID-19 prevention and control requirements before, during and after watching the Games."

The International Olympic Committee said those in attendance will be residents of China's mainland who have taken the required "COVID-19 countermeasures.”

Olympic organizers intend to hold the forthcoming Games in a “closed loop” system, which only participants can access, CNN reported. The plan will stay in place amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, according to CNN.

The Winter Games are not requiring athletes to be vaccinated against COVID-19, but those who are unvaccinated will have to quarantine for 21 days when they arrive in Beijing, NPR reported.

Last summer, the Tokyo Summer Games were under threat of being cancelled due to a rise of COVID-19 cases in Japan, which entered a state of emergency days before the Olympic flame was lit.

Many Olympians last summer, including some Americans, tested positive for the virus and fans were not allowed inside the newly built Tokyo stadiums to enjoy the events due to the pandemic.

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