A total of 67,137 tests were conducted yesterday within the system, leading to 26 positive COVID-19 cases.

There were 29 positive cases from 753 airport arrivals too, leading to 55 cases in total - a new daily high at the Games.

The total number of positive cases of COVID-19 from the Games now sits at 287.

On Tuesday (February 1), there were 17 COVID-19 cases in the closed loop and six the previous day.

Only 46 had been reported prior to Monday (January 31) from January 23, three less than have been reported over the last three days.

Despite cases increasing, Beijing 2022 medical expert panel chair Dr Brian McCloskey warned that it may take a few days for COVID-19 cases within the closed loop to go down.

"I think it’s important we look at the story behind those figures," the chair of the Beijing 2022 Medical Expert Panel said.

"People coming in are coming from a high level of COVID to a low level. 

"When they start their journeys, their risk is high. 

"If they follow the playbook rules it’s lower, but it’s still high. 

"The risk at the airport is lower. 

"When they get into the closed loop, the risk is lower still as those that are infectious are removed from the system.

"It may not be in the immediate next few days because there are more people coming in each day, but when we get to a stable number of people, then we would expect to see that.

"The main challenge is not the number of cases, it's an indication of whether there is spread within the closed loop. 

"So what we look for is indications of cases being linked to each other.

"When we start to see that, we start to take a greater interest and investigate those in more detail."

In total, there have been 192 positive cases from airport testing from 10,619 arrivals.

There have been 95 cases of COVID-19 from 559,105 screening tests in the closed loop.

COVID-19 has caused Austria's Marita Kramer - the most dominant women's ski jumper on the World Cup circuit - to withdraw from the Games after a positive test at a World Cup event in Willingen, meaning she could not travel to China.

Three-time Olympic bobsleigh medallist Elana Meyers Taylor is isolating in Beijing after testing positive, with the American's participation at risk too.

Others out with COVID-19 include Russian Olympic Committee skeleton athlete and Sochi 2014 silver medallist Nikita Tregubov, as well as Norway's double Olympic cross-country skiing gold medallist Simen Hegstad Krüger.

His team-mates Heidi Weng and Anne Kjersti Kalvå tested positive too and the Czech Republic, Sweden and Denmark men's ice hockey teams had positive COVID-19 cases which have affected preparations.

Poland are missing a short track speed skater and three speed skaters because of COVID-19, as well as four others within the Polish Olympic Committee delegation.

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