Olympic Updates: China reports few new domestic COVID cases
BEIJING (AP) — The Latest on the Beijing Winter Olympics:
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China’s National Health Commission says new domestic cases of COVID-19 in China have fallen into the single digits, allaying fears for now of a new outbreak that could disrupt the Winter Olympics.
The commission says nine cases were reported in a 24 hour period, only one of them in Beijing.
The Beijing case was in the western district of Fengtai, far from the Olympic venues that have been sealed off into a bubble with gates and fencing to prevent any contact between athletes, officials and other participants on the inside and the general public.
Chinese authorities credit a strict “zero-tolerance” policy with keeping case numbers down through lockdowns and mass testing, even when only small numbers of cases are reported.
The commission on Saturday reported another 18 cases among people who had traveled from abroad, along with 60 imported asymptomatic cases.
As of Thursday, a total of 308 people associated with the Olympics had tested positive since Jan. 23, including athletes, officials and workers at the Games. Almost 12,000 people have arrived in Beijing from outside China for the Olympics.
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Canadian hockey forward Melodie Daoust will not play against Finland in the Olympics and is being listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury.
Hockey operations director Gina Kingsbury says Daoust is expected to return during the tournament.
The three-time Olympian was hurt in the second period of Canada’s 12-1 win over Switzerland in an opening day preliminary round Group A matchup on Thursday. Daoust has been playing on a line with Natalie Spooner and young star Sarah Fillier, who combined for four goals and three assists against the Swiss.
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Sofia Goggia is back on snow and preparing to fly to China to defend her Olympic downhill title two weeks after crashing and injuring her left knee and leg.
Goggia posted a video on Facebook showing herself wearing Italy’s Olympic team jacket and says, “today I got back on skis and it was great.”
She adds, “So much work over these two weeks, so many injuries to cure, so much effort … but so much desire to make it.”
Goggia sprained her left knee, partially tore a cruciate ligament and has a “minor fracture” of the fibula bone in her leg. She also had some tendon damage after the crash in a World Cup super-G in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
Goggia has won the last eight World Cup downhills that she completed.
The Italian says that she’s “always been able to focus on the goal and I never considered it lost.” She adds that she’ll fly to China “soon” and that once there she’ll “put everything together turn after turn like always.”
Goggia could race the super-G next Friday. The women’s downhill is scheduled for Feb. 15.
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