Huang Chun, deputy director general of the Pandemic Prevention and Control Office of the Beijing 2022 Organising Committee, praised the closed-loop system implemented for the Games, which requires all participants to be separated from the Chinese public.

Daily testing is in place for every participant, with buses transporting everyone between venues, including the Beijing National Stadium, which is scheduled to host the Opening Ceremony on Friday (February 4). 

This differs from a similar system for last year's re-arranged Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, where athletes and coaches were tested daily, but other participants, such as the media, were required to test only every fourth day.

Participants are only required to quarantine in Beijing until their airport test result comes back, while those at Tokyo 2020 were required to test daily during a three-day isolation period and were separated from the public for another 11 days after that.

Huang claimed that testing accuracy and effectiveness at the airport had improved too, but that the number of attendees arriving in recent days had an impact on the case numbers.

"During the past two days, we had fewer athletes and participants arriving and also fewer positive cases," he said at a Beijing 2022 press conference.

"I'm sure that we can see the change in number is related to the number of participants arriving. 

"Both the accuracy and effectiveness of the testing method at the airport have been improved on. 

"Even though we see more positive cases, we didn’t have large-scale spread within the closed loop. 

"We think the overall situation is still under control. 

"We're all very safe and there’s no need to worry. 

"We're not considering major adjustments to countermeasures because we think it’s effective so far."

To date, there has been 67 positive COVID-19 cases since January 23, of which 54 were from the airport on arrival and 13 from daily screening testing.

Yesterday's figures saw 11 positive cases from the airport and five from screening testing from 3,882 tests.

Huang added that those who are still to arrive who have tested positive for COVID-19 overseas can still have hope of travelling if they are able to test negative four times before their flight.

"I have noticed that some athletes and coaches and officials, because they tested positive overseas, they have cancelled their travel to Beijing." he added.

"Another policy that we have for newly infected persons is that within five days before their departure, they can have four tests [and] they can still come to China if they test negative for all four tests. 

"We hope that people who have not made it to China will recover soon, and I also hope that they will also have negative test results soon so that they can still make it."

Zhao Weidong, Beijing 2022's spokesperson and director general of media and communications, warned that the Games would not be taking place without the closed-loop system.

"COVID-19 countermeasures are still top of our agenda," he said.

"We've been taking effective measures and everything is under control. 

"Without a safe Games there will not be a Games, so we ensure the health and safety of all participants is priority. 

"We've made everything ready and we’re only waiting for the kick-off of the Games. 

"We're ready to receive all guests and let you tell us whether we’ve done a good job."