Two athletes test positive for COVID-19 in Beijing Olympics warmups

Two foreign athletes in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Games’ organizers.

The athletes are among a crowd of 1,500 who have come into China since early October and are currently participating in warmups, The Associated Press reported. They did not exhibit any symptoms.

Organizers did not identify who the athletes were but said they were quarantined in a hotel. 

Chinese health officials reported 94 new symptomatic cases as of Nov. 2, the highest since August, Reuters reported.

The athletes were not identified.

China has some of the strictest COVID-19 policies in the world, according to the AP. Virtually everyone who enters the country must quarantine in a hotel for at least two weeks, even if they are vaccinated and test negative.

Some have called for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics, expressing concern about the ongoing pandemic and the surge of the delta variant, as well as human rights violations against the Uyghur ethnic minority in China.

Under current policy, competing athletes in Beijing are separated from the rest of China and interview with broadcasters over video, not in person.

The Beijing Winter Olympics will take place from Feb. 4 to Feb. 20.