As strict as the rules at the Olympics are, it cannot be prevented: 287 athletes and supervisors have been infected with Corona in Beijing so far. The German team is also affected again.
Just one day before the Olympic opening ceremony, the German Olympic team was hit hard. No fewer than six new corona cases were reported from the German team on Thursday. The German Olympic Sports Confederation did not initially say whether there were other athletes among the infected.
Three sub-teams were affected, it said. All infections were found upon entry on Thursday. Those affected were symptom-free and were separated from the rest of the team. Figure skater Nolan Seegert had previously been the first German athlete to test positive for the corona virus at the Winter Games.
Figure skating pair Seegert/Haase missed the team event
The 29-year-old pair runner is in an isolation hotel and is symptom-free, the DOSB announced on Wednesday. A few days earlier, a German supervisor in the Zhangjiakou mountain region had already been diagnosed with a corona infection.
There are also two confirmed cases of contact in the figure skating team, including Seegert’s sporting partner Minerva Hase. The duo already wanted to start in the short program for couples in the team event on Friday. Now the German figure skaters Nicole Schott, Paul Fentz and the ice dancers Katharina Müller/Tim Dieck are taking part in the team competition without the pair. In addition, Seegert and Hase are registered for the pair skating competition on February 18th and 19th. You had prepared for the Olympics in Russia.
Corona infected people are isolated in a hotel
Anyone who contracted the virus at the Beijing Olympics will be isolated in a specially designated hotel. Only after two negative PCR tests at least 24 hours apart can those affected leave before the end of ten days. After this period, only a negative PCR test is required.
The Olympic makers gave the total number of positive tests as 287 on Thursday. Of these, 185 infections were found during controls at the airport, 102 within the so-called closed circuit for all those involved in the Olympics.
Olympic “bubble” is extremely tightly controlled
149 athletes were nominated for the German Olympic team. They should travel to China in several groups. Strict measures to protect against the corona virus apply to the Winter Games, which open on Friday. Even before departure, all those involved in the Olympics had to be tested several times and were required to reduce their contacts as much as possible. In China, further PCR tests follow daily after entry in order to quickly detect infections and prevent the virus from spreading.
The Chinese organizers have set up an Olympic bubble that is controlled even more strictly than at the last summer games in Tokyo. Any contact between those involved in the Olympics and the Chinese population outside of this so-called “closed circuit” should be prevented.
Source: Stern
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