In China, the Covid postpones the Asian Games 2022

The Asian Games, which have been held every four years since 1951 by bringing together nearly 12,000 athletes in many disciplines, were to take place in September in China.

But in the midst of the Covid outbreak in the region, the organizers have just postponed this event to an unspecified date even if no official reason has been given.

"The Olympic Council of Asia has announced that the 19th Asian Games, which were originally scheduled to be held from September 10 to 25, 2022, are postponed," CCTV said on Chinese social network Weibo.

The competitions were to be held in Hangzhou (east) less than 200 km southwest of Shanghai, the city by far the most affected by the recent epidemic outbreak and where the population has been confined since the beginning of April.

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Initially, the organizers had planned to apply a coronavirus prevention plan based on that of the last Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, in February in Beijing, which had been a success in terms of health.

Zero Covid strategy

But the recent epidemic upsurge had not yet begun.

However, the Chinese authorities are anxious to avoid any contamination within the population and have applied a zero Covid strategy since 2020.

This consists of several measures: confinement as soon as a few cases appear, separation of people who test positive from the rest of the population, quarantine on arrival in the territory or even tracing of movements.

In addition, dozens of Covid cases have been identified in other cities in the same province where competitions were to be held.

According to the organizers, “the new dates will be announced at a later date.

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