The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will be held without foreign spectators and will require athletes to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus or face a 21-day quarantine, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said.
Spectators from mainland China, however, will be allowed to attend as the measures were revealed with the Games just four months away.
Organizers of the Beijing Games have informed the IOC's Executive Board 2022 of the principles to deliver "safe and successful Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games as scheduled," the committee said.
The Beijing Games start on Feb. 4 and the Chinese capital will become the first to have hosted both summer and winter editions after also staging the Beijing 2008 summer Games.
While acknowledging disappointment among international fans who will not be able to attend, the IOC welcomed the decision to have Chinese spectators after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in July were held with empty stadiums due to COVID-19 precautions.
"This will facilitate the growth of winter sports in China ... as well as bringing a favorable atmosphere to the venues," the IOC said.
It is also good news for broadcasting rights holders as well as sponsors, following the coverage of the Tokyo Games with the empty stands in the background.
The IOC said among the Beijing safety principles were that all fully vaccinated participants would enter what it called a "closed-loop management system" immediately upon their arrival, within which they will move freely.
They will not need to quarantine and this system will cover all Games-related areas and stadiums as well as accommodation, catering and the opening and closing ceremonies, served by a dedicated transport system.
All domestic and international participants, as well as the workforce in the system, will be tested daily, the IOC said.
Participants who are not fully vaccinated must spend 21 days in quarantine when arriving in the Chinese capital. The Games themselves last 16 days in total.
"Athletes who can provide a justified medical exemption will have their cases considered," the IOC said in a statement.
More details on the organizers' plans will be included in the Beijing Games playbooks to be issued in October and December.
Vaccination is not mandatory for the Beijing Games but some national Olympic committees, including that of the United States, are requiring all team members for Beijing to be vaccinated.
Speaking at Beijing's Olympic Park on Thursday, locals said that safety must come first, even if that means foreign fans missing out.
"I think it's the right thing to do because foreign spectators can watch it broadcast live," said Zhang Xinyu, 29.
"But if there are a lot of people traveling, it won't be safe for either the athletes or the foreign guests."
China, where the coronavirus emerged toward the end of 2019, has wrestled down the number of local infections to a trickle by deploying aggressive, mass testing and keeping its borders extremely tight. It also claims to have fully vaccinated nearly 1.05 billion people.
The 2022 Beijing Olympics, which is facing calls for a boycott from rights groups, is scheduled for Feb. 4-20.