Covid-positive : The official delegations of the participants of the 2022 Olympics are slowly arriving in Beijing, where the competitions will take place from February 4 to 20. Between January 4 and 22, 72 positive tests for coronavirus were detected, all patients were isolated. But the world is worried that the Chinese will manipulate the tests for COVID-19, as they once manipulated doping tests in Sochi-2014.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced the first cases of coronavirus infection among participants in the 2022 Olympics. At first, athletes were not among the 72 COVID-positive, but, according to the latest data, there is still one athlete among them. From January 4 to 22, 2,586 tests were carried out at Beijing International Airport, 39 of which were positive. The remaining 33 cases were identified as a result of 336,421 tests carried out in a closed “bubble” system that separates the Games participants from the Chinese population.
Individuals with positive results have been isolated, according to the IOC. The organization said the testing process proved that the system described in the Beijing 2022 collections works. Those who test positive at the airport followed by a negative test will need to test again negative before entering the bubble. The measure was introduced in order to avoid the release of people from quarantine with a false negative result.
Athletes and Games participants who test positive and are asymptomatic will be released from isolation after receiving two consecutive negative PCR test results 24 hours apart. The IOC Medical Review Panel may review individual cases, which may include cases of sustained positive results and non-contagious Games participants.
Only those athletes who have completed the full course of vaccination are allowed into Beijing. Those who have a medical tap will be allowed in on a separate basis. And in China, they came up with a barcode system, thanks to which it is supposedly impossible to falsify test results – they will be done daily in Beijing. This system confuses many Olympic participants: athletes and delegations fear that, as with doping tests, the results can be faked. But Beijing 2022 Medical Panel Chairman Brian McCloskey assured that testing at the Games is reliable.
“We have a standard system that is used in hospitals around the world, which includes the use of barcodes. Thanks to them, you can track the entire process and make sure that the sample belongs to a specific person. Everything is run by the lab and controlled by the Beijing authorities, who apply the same standards for barcode security and barcode data integrity as any other country in the world.
This is the same type of PCR test that is used all over the world. For the Games, the test is set at a very sensitive level because we want to ensure that Omicron does not fall into the “bubble”. We have added additional reagents and different gene targets to improve specificity and eliminate false positives ,” McCloskey said.
Nevertheless, the number of infected people in Beijing right now is alarming: the Olympics have not yet begun, and there are almost 100 people among covid-positive people. The Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee, in spite of everything, assures that the Games will go according to plan, and there will be no manipulations with coronavirus tests. It remains to wait until February 4 to be convinced of this.
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