# Beijing sealed up its Winter Olympic “bubble” today, preparing the venues, transport, and staff for the world’s strictest mass sporting event since the start of the global pandemic. From today thousands of Games-related staff, volunteers, cleaners, and even cooks will be in the so-called “closed-loop” with no direct physical access to the outside world. The media and roughly 3-thousand athletes are expected to start arriving in the Chinese capital in the weeks ahead and will remain in the bubble from the moment they land until they leave the country.