The sporting event scheduled for Sunday in the epicenter of the pandemic had to be postponed for health reasons. A bad sign in the run-up to the Olympic Games, which are due to start on February 4 in the country.
Before the finish line, they will not even be able to cross the start line. This Sunday, 26,000 participants were to take part in races including a full marathon and a half marathon in Wuhan (China) but the event was finally canceled. Organizers said in a recent statement they were postponing the event in the central Chinese city. “In order to prevent the risk of the epidemic spreading”.
One hundred and three days before the opening ceremony of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, concern is growing over a resurgence of the pandemic. China reported 26 new cases of Covid-19 in the country on Sunday. Authorities are working to contain the virus by carrying out massive tests on residents as well as targeted closures, and have already announced that foreign tourists will be banned at the Olympics.
The postponement is also symbolic because Wuhan is the city in which the coronavirus was first identified, towards the end of 2019, around the now infamous fish market.
Despite the arrival of international investigators and a report from the American secret services, the precise origin of the virus remains however still unknown. China turned down a new WHO study in Wuhan in August.
What regarding the Beijing marathon?
The country had drastically reduced the number of infections thanks to a massive testing campaign and a strict border closure, but the Covid reappeared in Wuhan in August. The dreaded Delta Variant has also been reported in other Chinese cities.
Contacted by AFP, the organizers of the Beijing marathon, which is to be held next Sunday, did not indicate whether it would be maintained. The capital will mark the 100 days leading up to the Winter Olympics, which will kick off on February 4, on Wednesday, and organizers admitted earlier this month that they were “Facing great pressure” due to Covid-19.
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