The Winter Olympics flame was extinguished in Beijing on Feb 20, capping Games that will be remembered not only for the thrill and emotion of competition, but also for a sense of security essential for any sporting event, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thanks to joint efforts in devising and enforcing a closed-loop management system aimed at stemming the spread of the novel coronavirus, no major outbreak was reported at Olympic venues and no cases elsewhere in China were traced to the Games.

Officials and experts said the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 provided valuable experience in hosting a major sporting event during a pandemic and demonstrated a feasible and safe way to resume international travel and communication.

In Shanghai, Zhang Wenhong, head of the infectious disease department at Huashan Hospital of Fudan University, said: "The virus containment wisdom offered by Beijing 2022 satisfied people's desire to interact with each other, which had long been constrained by the pandemic. The effects of such wisdom have proved surprisingly good."

Zhang said China managed to strike a balance between preserving its hard-won virus control outcomes and moderately reopening cross-border travel for better links with the outside world.

"Before the pandemic is completely brought under control …these experiences are expected to be applied to international exchanges in the political, economic and academic arenas," Zhang added.

Hosting the Games and welcoming athletes and team members from around the world were viewed as a big test for China's efforts to prevent infections being imported.

The emergence of the highly infectious Omicron strain in November added to concerns over whether China could maintain its "dynamic zero COVID-19 policy" to swiftly eliminate local outbreaks.

The nation succeeded. From Jan 23, when the Olympic Village opened, to Feb 20, only 437 people tested positive out of more than 1.8 million tests.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said during a briefing on Feb 18: "The closed-loop situation was a success, with an infection rate of 0.01 percent, I guess. It (the loop) was one of the safest places on this planet, if not the safest."

Matt Graham, an Australian freestyle skier, said: "Once in the bubble it's great. You feel very safe and kind of go about your business and focus on the sport."

Preventing the virus penetrating the closed loop also contributed to minimizing the threat of it spilling over to outside communities.

Zhang Yingchun, who lives in Chaoyang district, Beijing, said she would have loved to watch her favorite figure skating star Yuzuru Hanyu in person, but she understood the Olympic committee's decision to keep athletes away from the public to prevent wide transmission of the virus.

"I still greatly enjoyed the Games on television and followed Hanyu on social media platforms," Zhang said. "After all, having fun and keeping safe are equally important in my opinion."

Key to success

Beijing is not the first Olympic host to envision a closed loop, or bubble, to keep the virus at bay－the key to such success being stringent enforcement of the right rules.

A reporter from Japan's Kyodo News Agency, who requested anonymity, said during an interview with Global Times, "The anti-virus measures for Beijing 2022 were far more rigorous than those for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (which were delayed until last year due to the pandemic).

"Take my experience for example. When I arrived at the airport in Beijing, workers in full protective gear collected nucleic acid samples and also tested my luggage," the reporter said.

"On the bus from the airport, the driver was separated from the passengers. I was also required to stay in the hotel room before the sample collected at the airport returned negative."

Instead of taking it for granted that people would abide by the rules, the reporter said China had come up with a more sophisticated system to prevent violations.

Zhang, from Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, said that while Tokyo 2020 made initial attempts to explore the possibility of holding an international event during a raging pandemic, Beijing 2022 made improvements.