Olympic torch relay kicks off in Beijing

The first leg of the relay starts at the Beijing Olympic Park. Then the fire will visit Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, the Great Wall of China and the Summer Palace, Kommersant reports.

The final point of the trip will again be the Beijing Olympic Park, where the fire will be delivered on the evening of February 4 for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games.

In total, 1.2 thousand people from 20 countries will take part in the relay race. All of them will run through deserted areas to exclude contact between participants and local residents in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

There will be no spectators along the route of the relay due to strict anti -COVID measures taken in China in connection with the ongoing epidemic.

The Winter Olympics will be held in China from February 4 to 20, subject to the strictest anti-COVID measures. Without exception, all athletes and members of national teams, including support staff, are required to take COVID-19 tests daily, contacts between athletes are strictly limited.

To get admission to the Games, all athletes at least two weeks before the start of the competition should be vaccinated with vaccines approved in China, including the "Sputnik V».

Instead of living people, robots will be engaged in service in hotels. As with the Tokyo Summer Olympics, foreign fans will not be allowed in the stands. In this way, the organizers hope to avoid a new outbreak of covid in the country.

After the end of the Olympics in Beijing, the Paralympics, scheduled for March 4-13, will start.