Police escorts, hazmat suits - welcome to Beijing's Olympic bubble

China hopes to deliver a "simple, safe and splendid" Games

China is sealing the Beijing Olympics inside an impenetrable giant bubble cocooning thousands of people and stretching nearly 200 kilometres (120 miles) in an effort to thwart the coronavirus.

AFP takes you inside the bubble for the February 4-20 Winter Games:

China, where the virus emerged towards the end of 2019, hopes to deliver a "simple, safe and splendid" Games in keeping with the country's strict zero-Covid strategy.

Rather than sealing off one huge area of the capital, the bubble will in reality be numerous mini bubbles, such as a cordoned-off hotel on a street used by everyday Beijingers.

Unlike last summer's pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games, where for example media were able to leave the bubble after two weeks and head out into public, nobody will be able to leave the "closed loop" during the Games.

AFP staff were transported between the airport and their hotel -- having had their first Covid test -- in special buses escorted by police cars. 

How many people are inside?

There will also an army of staff powering the Olympic sites, from translators to cleaners, hotel staff and drivers.

There are 72 hotels inside and over 4,000 designated vehicles to transport participants, organisers say.

Everyone inside the bubble must be fully vaccinated or do 21 days' quarantine before going inside. Organisers have stopped short of insisting on boosters.

There will be hotels, restaurants, convenience stores and petrol stations in the bubble.

This week Beijing police warned motorists not to help if a Games vehicle is involved in an accident to avoid the bubble being breached.

How long is it for?

On a social media forum for the Games, volunteers wrote that they had to enter the bubble in mid-January.

Even then they are not free. Residents of China must complete a 21-day quarantine upon leaving the bubble, according to a government virus prevention handbook.

One convenience store worker in Zhangjiakou, the resort city outside Beijing that will host several outdoor events, told AFP she had lived onsite since November. 

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