by Tafara Mugwara, Zhang Yuliang
HARARE, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's current strategies against the COVID-19 pandemic are effective and necessary as the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics draw near while highly contagious variants of the virus continue to rage around the world, a Zimbabwean expert has said.
The Chinese government has done well in preparing for the games, which will take place on Feb. 4-20, followed by the Winter Paralympics on March 4-13, Donald Rushambwa, a researcher at the Harare-based China-Africa Economic and Culture Exchange Research Center, said in a recent interview with Xinhua.
China's current strategy to clear COVID-19 infections in a timely manner has been an effective measure against the pandemic and has helped China to get back on its track, he said, noting that China has recorded slightly over 100,000 COVID-19 cases despite being the most populous country.
In addition, Rushambwa said the closed-loop management system, which has been adopted to restrict games-related personnel to certain zones in and around the Olympics venues to avoid any contact or transmission with the local population, will keep the spread of COVID-19 to a minimum.
This system is designed to ward off any community infections around the arenas and the participants, he said.
Given that Beijing will host two major global sporting events amid the Spring Festival travel rush during the next two months, it is imperative that the government adopt strict COVID-19 prevention measures to protect the public, Rushambwa added.
By holding a green, environment-friendly and sustainable Winter Olympics, China is keeping its pledge to honor its climate obligations, he said, adding that the games will highlight Chinese culture to the world.
"The Chinese people are also showing the rest of the world how they work, how they function, their business culture and how they implement their policies," he said, "so I think China has taken a great step, and the rest of the world will follow suit when hosting some of these big games." ■
