Less than three weeks before the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the organizers have announced that no tickets will be sold to the general public because of the “grim” COVID situation. Some tickets will be distributed to members of the public although the mechanism by which this will happen was not immediately made clear. In a statement, the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee said: “In terms of the grim and complex situation of epidemic prevention and control [and] in order to protect the health and safety of Olympic personnel and spectators, we have decided to change the original plan of public ticket sale.” Previously, organizers said audiences would be limited to residents of China and would not be allowed to shout their support, but would be permitted to clap. Beijing reported its first case of the highly transmissible Omicron variant last week.