BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- A low positive rate in COVID-19 tests is expected to be sustained throughout the Beijing Olympic Winter Games, which will continue to be safe, said Dr. Brian McCloskey, chief of the Beijing 2022 Medical Expert Panel at a press conference on Wednesday.
Despite seeing a total of 232 positive cases - 69 within the closed loop - since January 23, McCloskey believes "it's important that we look at the story behind those figures."
"The reality is that every country in the world at the moment has a higher level of COVID [cases] than China does. So that means people coming in are traveling from the high level of COVID [risk] to a low level."
McCloskey then explained how the virus could be restrained in the closed loop through multiple tests as people travel from all over the world to Beijing.
"When they start their journey in their own country, they have their pre-departure tests. Their risk of having a positive test is high based on the prevalence in their own country," he said.
"When they get to the airport in Beijing, the risk of being positive is lower, because the pre-departure tests have identified the people who are positive and who might have been infectious traveling with them. So the risk of the airport is lower.
"When they get inside the closed loop, the risk of testing positive is still lower, because the airport testing has identified people who might before be infectious and has removed them from the system. So in the closed loop we start to see a low risk of being positive," McCloskey noted.
"But for the first few days in the closed loop, the risk is still a bit higher because people can incubate the disease very slowly.
"After four or five days in the closed loop, the risk comes down to equivalent to [that of] the local population, which is very low. At that stage, they're working within the closed loop effectively," he said. ■
