China cancels Winter Olympics ticket sales amid rising omicron cases

China has cancelled plans to sell tickets for the Beijing Winter Olympics as rising omicron cases threaten to bring its zero-Covid policy crashing down.

Athletes and officials have already started to arrive in the capital ahead of the Games, which start on February 4, entering a tightly controlled bubble separating them from the rest of the population

But the general public will no longer be invited to join, and are being replaced instead by handpicked spectators to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

The move heaps further embarrassment on Beijing after preparations for the Games were hit by a widespread diplomatic boycott on human rights grounds.

China has spent an estimated £2.95 billion on the games, including on a new high-speed rail link to some of the venues, where 1.2 million cubic metres of artificial snow has been pumped on to sports tracks.

China is facing a major test to its policy of stopping Covid while much of the rest of the world begins to pivot to living with the disease.

Recent omicron cases have led to immediate lockdowns of entire cities, trapping millions of people at a time, while vast testing and quarantining scheme attempt to stamp out the new more transmissible variant. Meanwhile, Chinese vaccines have been found to be less efficient than Western-made jabs.

Athletes are already undergoing daily tests, with those receiving positive results and showing symptoms moved to hospital. Anyone infected but asymptomatic will be sent to a purpose-built isolation facility and unable to compete until cleared for discharge.

It is unclear how the hand-picked spectators will be selected, but a likely scenario would see local sponsors, government officials and possibly even soldiers in the stands.

No international spectators will be permitted into the country.

China recorded 174 new cases on Monday. Beijing recorded its first case, which authorities said was linked to a woman who received a letter with Covid-19 droplets which had been sent from Canada.

Authorities warned people to open packages mailed from abroad outside, while wearing a mask and gloves in what appeared to be the latest attempt to shift the blame for outbreaks abroad.

There is little evidence that Covid-19 can survive long enough in droplets to be mailed from Canada.

The British team of up to 55 fully vaccinated athletes has been warned against taking their mobile phones and other personal devices to the games amid fears they could be spied upon by the Chinese state.