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The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has received reassuring news regarding its 6th Asian Beach Games set to be held in Sanya city, China in November.
Sanya vice mayor Zhou Jun, the deputy secretary general of the Sanya Asian Beach Games Organising Committee (SABGOC), sent a letter to Husain Al-Musallam, the director general of OCA, stating that the resort city in tropical Hainan province has not registered any new COVID-19 cases for more than two months.
This bodes well for the Games which are set to run from November 28 to December 6, 2020 with 17 sports and the participation of athletes from the 45 member National Olympic Committees.
He said: “Since February 12, 2020, no new cases of confirmed infections have been reported in Sanya for 62 consecutive days, and the last confirmed patient was cured and discharged from hospital on March 8.
“As of midnight on April 13, Hainan reported a total of 29 asymptomatic cases, including 18 cases in Sanya. A total of 22 cases were freed from quarantine, while seven cases are still under medical observation. Among the 29 asymptomatic patients, seven cases were imported from abroad.
“At present, the SABGOC is speeding up the preparation in an orderly manner, hoping to bring everyone a trendy, green, fantastic and magnificent Asian Beach Games.”
Al-Musallam is thrilled with the news and impressed by how the authorities have been handling the outbreak in Sanya city and Hainan province. The OCA has been in regular contact with the organising committee and with the Chinese Olympic Committee over the past three months.
Al-Musallam said: “We appreciate there is still a long way to go in respect of controlling and preventing the spread of COVID-19 around Asia because the health, safety and well-being of our athletes is the most important factor.
“However, we remain hopeful that our Asian Beach Games can go ahead as planned in seven months’ time. We will continue to monitor the situation with the organising committee, the Chinese Olympic Committee and with all our National Olympic Committees in the five zones of Asia.”
