The president of Coni, Giovanni Malagò, was found positive for Covid in a test carried out in his hotel in Beijing, where he arrived yesterday for the Winter Olympics.
Malagò, who is totally asymptomatic, was isolated under medical observation in a dedicated facility, where there are already other members of the IOC, according to the rules.
Malagò received a call from the President of the IOC, Thomas Bach, who said he was sorry for this inconvenience and wished him a speedy recovery.
At the moment and three days before the start of the Winter Games, there are a total of 24 new cases of positivity to Covid recorded in 24 hours in Beijing. Of these, 18 were found at the airport among the 1,438 arrivals linked to the Olympics (11 concern the 379 subjects between athletes and team officials, seven emerged from the 1,059 other stakeholders). Inside the “bubble”, on the other hand, 63,548 swabs were conducted and in six cases (5 + 1) the outcome was positive. In all, from 23 January to today, the number of cases in the Chinese capital has reached 200.
The curtain on the sporting event will go up on Friday 4th February. They will be armored Games, characterized by rigid protocols to counter the umpteenth wave of infections.
"The Chinese people always keep their promises - explains Zhao Weidong, spokesperson for the organizing committee - We are still in the midst of the pandemic, we have had to overcome many difficulties and challenges and we have made all possible efforts to ensure that the Games can be held regularly. three days after the start, we can say that everything is ready ".
Contagions always take center stage "but we are taking effective measures and everything is under control. Without a safe Olympics there is no Olympiad so we make sure that the health and safety of all participants are the priority. We are ready to receive all our guests and they will tell if we have done a good job ".
(Unioneonline / vl)
