LIVING

CHINA DECIDES NOT TO SELL WINTER OLYMPICS TICKETS

UPI News: 19/1/2022

The Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee announced Monday that tickets for the global competition will not be sold to the public but will be distributed “exclusively” to residents of the country who meet strict COVID-19 requirements.

Organizers previously said in September that tickets would be sold only to people living in mainland China because of “the grave and complicated situation of COVID-19 globally.”

A woman wearing a face mask poses for photos next to a countdown display showing days left for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, on a shopping street in Beijing on Monday. The capital reported its first locally transmitted case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 on Saturday. Photo by Roman Pilipey/EPA-EFE

“It was decided that tickets should not be sold anymore but be part of an adapted program that will invite groups of spectators to be present on site during the Games,” the new statement reads.

“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.”