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Ukraine Says Russian Invasion "Dangerous," Not "Imminent"; U.S. President Joe Biden Would Consider Personal Sanctions on Putin if Russia Invades Ukraine; British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Says He Won't Resign as Partygate Report Looms; E.U. Wants Test-Free Travel for Vaccinated Residents; U.S. Diplomats Asking to Leave China over COVID-19 Measures; Strict COVID-19 Rules Present Big Hurdles for Olympians. Aired 10-10:40a ET
Aired January 26, 2022 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): While the situation on Ukraine's border is incredibly tense, the country's intelligence officials say an
invasion is not imminent.
Meanwhile, the U.S. President tries to keep up the pressure on Moscow, saying he may go as far as imposing sanctions on Vladimir Putin if Russia
invades.
Also coming up:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have someone who is so dedicated to the people he loves.
And then, the prime minister just doesn't care?
ANDERSON (voice-over): Heartbreak and anger from some, as Britain's so- called Partygate saga drags on. Prime minister Boris Johnson in the thick of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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ANDERSON: I'm Becky Anderson live for you from Expo 2020 Dubai. Welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD.
"Dangerous spot, not imminent." That's the big line out of Ukraine, about the prospects of any quick Russian invasion. A source saying Ukrainian
intelligence believes Russian forces massed along the country's border would need at least one to two weeks to launch an attack.
Here's the latest this hour. Ukraine's foreign minister says, as of now, a full-scale Russian offensive is not possible. The White House earlier
calling an invasion "imminent." But President Joe Biden says, no one knows what his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will do.
The U.K. not ruling out the possibility of imposing personal sanctions on Mr. Putin. That's something President Biden said he is considering doing,
if the president, the Russian president, invades Ukraine.
Also today, a diplomatic effort aimed at defusing this crisis. Resuming in Paris, the so-called Normandy format talks involve officials from Russia,
Ukraine, France and Germany. The Russian representative at those talks is due to speak shortly. We'll get to that as soon as he starts.
Our White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond is live from Washington. First, I want to get to our international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson
live in Moscow.
The British prime minister said he is in talks with the U.S. to potentially ban Russia from the SWIFT payment system.
How is Russia reacting?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: They have said -- this came from the Russian Federation council -- that if Russia was banned,
that would have an impact on Europe. European nations wouldn't be able to buy oil or gas or other materials from Russia, because the payment system
wouldn't work.
So there was a clear quid pro quo, if you will. Boris Johnson, when he was speaking yesterday, said the real decision on SWIFT would have to be
decided by the United States. But it has been put around as an idea, perhaps the strongest level of sanctions possible.
And the idea of sanctions on President Putin, we know both Boris Johnson and President Biden have mooted that idea. Putin's spokesman said, look,
they would not be painful. In fact, he said that's a misreading and misunderstanding of how senior Russian officials keep their money.
It's against the law, he said, for senior Russian officials to keep their money outside of the country. Many analysts, financial analysts, would
raise a question to that. But this was the Kremlin's point of view.
And he said if those sanctions came up against Putin (INAUDIBLE) senior Russian officials, that would not be painful, he said, but politically
destructive, Becky.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): If there won't be any constructive response, then the West will continue its
aggressive line, then, as the president has said multiple times, Moscow will take appropriate response measures.
In any case, everyone should proceed from the understanding that Russia's safety and its citizens is an absolute priority and security will be
provided in any circumstance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: So he didn't say what the response would be.
[10:05:00]
ROBERTSON: But in the past, Russian officials said, if it's not the right reply to the questions we're asking, if we don't get the diplomatic path to
what we're asking for, then we will turn to military means.
It appears, listening to Sergey Lavrov, listening to the ministry of foreign affairs, also, you know, which is his office, in a tweet today,
saying, look, the weapons systems that the United States is giving to the Ukrainians will end up in the hands of terrorists. And that will cause
provocation around Donbas.
And Sergey Lavrov was clear Russia will protect its citizens and, in the past few years, Russia has given over 500,000 Russian passports to citizens
in that breakaway separatist region, in Ukraine. So a lot of focus on Donbas. And Sergey Lavrov potentially here signaling Russia's interest in
what happens to the citizens across its border in Ukraine.
ANDERSON: But quite frankly, we have been reporting on the potential for action and an invasion by Russian troops now for some weeks, if not months.
And you and I, before Christmas, talked about the fact that it was very difficult to read president Vladimir Putin's position and his next move.
And we are still having that discussion.
Is it any clearer what the Russian president is thinking at this point?
Everybody is trying to read the tea leaves.
Do we have any further detail?
ROBERTSON: We don't. Lavrov said when they get the response back from the United States and NATO, they will give some proposals to the president.
Today, I spoke to an analyst here in Russia.
And I think the analysts that live here in Moscow, perhaps closest to the situation, they listen to the Russian government all the time. They
understand the context. And his thinking was, there's a diplomatic path that can be run here over the next couple of months.
And that's the path the Russian government seem to be set on at the moment. But if they don't get what they want down that path, then the alternate
path, Lavrov hinting today, that could be on the cards and a trigger point could be tensions around Donbas.
We've heard from the USA, there could be false flag situations. They are playing up the weapons systems that are given to the Ukrainian authorities
by the United States. You see this argument and context shaping. But we don't know what's going on in Putin's mind.
But the estimate is, there's still a couple more months for this to play out before he has to take the road to diplomacy or the road to possibly
military.
ANDERSON: Jeremy, according to administration officials that CNN has spoken to, the Biden administration is set to send Russia a written
response to concerns that Moscow has publicly stated. A sense of U.S. proposals on a route going forward, as soon as Wednesday.
What more do we know?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: They are expected to send the reply as early as today. And it's not expected to go much further than
what we heard from President Biden nor U.S. officials so far.
It's not expected to even include what President Biden included on his news conference last week, that Ukraine, in the short term, is not expected to
join NATO. And again, there is a question of whether any of this will soothe Russia's concerns as it relates to the region and whether or not it
will help to de-escalate tensions.
One thing that the U.S. is preparing for is for the range of sanctions and other measures that they will apply, if President Putin chooses to move
forward with an invasion, something that the White House press secretary warned yesterday could be imminent.
And the president himself said that is very possible, although he is still reading the tea leaves along with the rest of us. The president said, he
could see himself sanctioning President Putin directly if he invades Ukraine. Listen to his response just yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I made it clear early on to President Putin, that if he were to move into Ukraine, that it would be
severe consequences, including significant economic sanctions as well as I would feel obliged to beef up our NATO presence in on the eastern front.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Would you ever see yourself personally sanctioning him if he did invade Ukraine?
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BIDEN: Yes.
COLLINS: You would?
BIDEN: I would see that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DIAMOND: And the British foreign secretary also wouldn't rule anything out when asked if they would consider sanctioning Putin personally. We don't
have a sense that is part of the sanctions package that the U.S. has been preparing.
Senior officials are talking to us about export controls, preventing Russia from getting certain technologies exported to them. And the U.S. is also
preparing for the consequences of financial sanctions targeted at Russia and frankly the consequences of the potential breakout of war.
That is to try and help European countries that rely on Russian liquefied natural gas to shore up their supplies. The U.S. has been working with
global partners to get natural gas supplies to those countries if a war does break out.
ANDERSON: Jeremy Diamond at the White House.
Let's bring in Matthew Chance in Kyiv.
What are Ukrainian officials saying at this point, about the prospects of any Russian invasion?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, obviously they are alert to that possibility. But the way they are characterizing it,
is that the threat from Russia at the moment is a dangerous one but it's not an imminent one. I'm getting that from Ukraine officials I've been
speaking to.
They're saying we are looking at satellite images on an hourly basis. And it's the assessment of Ukrainian intelligence and defense officials
watching these things that the positioning of the forces of Russia at the moment does not suggest they are poised to come in at any moment.
What they are telling me is, if an order is given from the Kremlin, for an invasion to take place, it will take between a week and two weeks for those
forces to be properly positioned so an invasion can take place.
Of course, we can predict what will happen. But we have the Ukrainian prime minister a few hours ago saying it is the Ukrainian assessment, that there
aren't enough forces on the Russian side that have gathered at the moment, to, you know, stage the full-scale invasion, that is predicted in the
United States and other Western countries.
So you know, there is this disconnect, Becky, between, you know, what the U.S. says and what U.S. intelligence is indicating about the impending
nature of a Russian attack. And what Ukraine is saying is don't worry. This is the message that is being put out by the Ukrainian president on an
almost daily basis.
We are not in immediate danger but just be alert.
ANDERSON: Briefly, Matthew, then, how will Kyiv respond to what we're hearing from a number of officials similar with the situation, that more
troops can be on the way to the region?
This follows the commitment by Joe Biden, to commit something that will lead to 8,000 troops in the region sometime soon.
CHANCE: Ukraine is welcoming that. From the officials I've spoken to, any doubling down of U.S. or NATO commitment to security in Eastern Europe is a
good thing, they say.
What they are concerned about, is Ukraine will become the no-man's land, in their words, in the standoff between NATO and Russia. They don't want that.
They are in favor of the front footing, by putting forces in before an invasion.
But they want that in Ukraine, as well. They want more military assistance, before Russia comes in. And they want sanctions imposed on Russia, before
it makes any move to take more Ukrainian territory. So they approve of it but they want it to be applied to Ukraine, as well.
ANDERSON: Matthew Chance is in Kyiv.
If you are watching Russian state media, it might seem to you that we are staring into a parallel universe. I mean, there is so much mixed messaging
going on and there will be more of that, as we move through the next hour.
Just ahead, Boris Johnson largely waved off his critics today in Parliament. But he still faces a key report into what is known as the
Partygate scandal.
And more cases of COVID inside the Olympic bubble in Beijing. We'll look at the toll that is taking on athletes.
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ANDERSON: The British prime minister says he is not going anywhere, during what was a raucous grilling by U.K. lawmakers a short time ago.
Boris Johnson once again rejecting calls for him to resign. He's been under intense pressure over Downing Street parties that allegedly broke lockdown
rules. We are expecting a report in today's gatherings to be released imminently; if not today, certainly this week. Here's what Mr. Johnson has
to say about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: You have got to leave the report to the independent investigator. As he knows, and of course, when I receive it
of course I will do exactly what I said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: London police already said they are investigating whether any COVID restrictions were breached, escalating a crisis that has left Mr.
Johnson fighting for his political survival and open to a barrage of criticism. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEIR STARMER, U.K. LABOUR LEADER: The reality is that we now have the shameful spectacle of a prime minister of the United Kingdom being subject
to a police investigation, unable to lead the country, incapable of doing the right thing. And every day his cabinet fails to speak out, they become
more and more complicit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is live in Downing Street.
We would expect the leader of the opposition party to have a significant pop at Boris Johnson. He does appear to have landed on his feet in
Parliament. A short time ago, this grilling started out loud and fierce. But it did end up looking like a bit of damp squid, didn't it?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It did, Becky. There were darts thrown between opposition lawmakers. And prime minister Boris Johnson had quick
quips back. I think all here were all waiting on that Sue Gray report, the senior civil servant. She is expected to release it and it should provide
that breakdown that lawmakers want to see, if Boris Johnson knew about the parties and what, if any, involvement he had.
But in this moment, as we wait for this report, I want to take a step back and look how this all unraveled. For weeks now, there's been a drip, drip,
drip of parties happening, just behind me at 10 Downing Street, at the height of lockdown.
[10:20:00]
ABDELAZIZ: And one of the ways the public reacted, is sharing their stories on the day of the allegation, what they were doing. So I want to
break down what happened in May of 2020, the height of the lockdown, when two alleged parties took place. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Spring 2020: about two months into England's strict nationwide lockdown. The death toll mounting so quickly, mass graves
are dug on the outskirts of London.
JOHNSON: To obey those rules...
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): The prime minister consistently urges the public to abide by COVID restrictions.
May 15th: this photo is snapped in the Downing Street garden, Johnson allegedly hosting a wine and cheese party for his team. Johnson's
government has denied wrongdoing, claiming this was a work meeting.
Bereaved mother Emma Jones says it's hypocrisy.
EMMA JONES, BEREAVED MOTHER: The date just jumped out at me. So the 15th of May 2020, which is an incredibly sad day for us.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): That day, her 18 year-old daughter, Ruby, died of blood cancer at home.
JONES: After Ruby died, we opened up our front garden and invited people to come. But they had to do in their household bubbles.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Because funeral attendance was severely limited, this is how loved ones said goodbye to Ruby.
ABDELAZIZ: You made the sacrifice of not having a funeral for your daughter.
JONES: It was very, very hard. But we didn't begrudge that. But now to realize that the people who set the rules weren't following them is
absolutely infuriating.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But this government needs to stop --
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): May 20th, 2020, police are out to enforce restrictions and break up illegal gatherings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to disperse this group and go about your business.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): But in the prime minister's garden, a party is allegedly taking place, after his top secretary invited more than 100
staffers to "make the most of the lovely weather" and "bring your own booze."
Johnson now admits to his attendance and has apologized but says he believed the BYOB event was a work function.
JOHNSON: Mr. Speaker, I want to apologize.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): That spring, Olufemi Akinnola followed the rules until his dying breath, isolating at home, his son, Lobby, told us.
LOBBY AKINNOLA, OLUFEMI'S SON: You have someone who was so dedicated to the people he loves. And then the prime minister just doesn't care?
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): In the fall of 2020, Lobby met the prime minister with other bereaved families to share his story of grief.
AKINNOLA: I don't think the man can maintain his position as prime minister because I think he's betrayed us all so deeply.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): For many, the accusation their government broke COVID-19 rules to party is unforgivable. The inquiries into the alleged
breaches, first by the cabinet office and now the police, are set to make it unforgettable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABDELAZIZ: It's sometimes hard to capture the mood in this country, Becky, over the course of the last few weeks, moving from heartbreak, to anger, to
sometimes that very famous British stark humor. Memes abound on social media.
But ultimately it's come down to this fact that it's no longer about parties. It's no longer about who attended the event and how much wine or
beer was available. It's about the respect this government holds for the highest office in the land.
It's about the sacrifice that families made to follow those rules. And it's about whether those rules do apply to the very people who set them, Becky.
ANDERSON: Salma Abdelaziz is outside 10 Downing Street. It's the garden behind that building, where these alleged parties are said to have taken
place.
A poll just released suggesting that upwards of two-thirds of the British public think the prime minister should resign.
So is this the end -- the beginning of the end of the Boris Johnson era?
Or is it too soon to write his political obituary?
Well, no one knows British protocol better than my colleague, Max Foster, who left London for a bit to join me in Dubai.
It's good to have you here. Someone talking about this report that we are waiting on from the senior civil servant, Sue Gray. And we don't have that
yet. But whatever it says -- and conceivably it could be very damming.
Boris Johnson's back benchers are what counts here. These are the guys in his own party, who will have to decide to withdraw their support from him.
Will they?
MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the question, isn't it?
Then who are you going to replace him with?
They're obviously ambitious people that will vote against him because they want that job themselves.
For the others, who are they looking at?
[10:25:00]
FOSTER: So Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, isn't very well-known, isn't really tested as a campaigner. Same goes for Rishi Sunak. You would
probably say they were the two front-runners. The public don't really know them.
But they're very able politicians, as you and I know. Then Jeremy Hunt, who used to be the health secretary, he is well-known. And you think, it might
be someone from the new intake, might bubble up through a campaign. And then back benchers sitting there, thinking, the Tory Party particularly
strong at this, worrying about their own jobs.
Who is going to be the best campaigner?
And you end up back with Boris.
So selfishly, do you get rid of Boris?
And as you say, it's the back benchers making the decision, not the wider party.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: Like him or loathe him. And that's not for us to give our own opinion, despite the fact we're both British. He delivered Brexit. And many
who said -- he was re-elected with a big majority, he's elected with a big majority. And his party re-elected back in December of 2019, all on a
promise to deliver Brexit again.
Like it or loathe it, he did deliver it. That was set to be, to a certain extent, not his legacy but the beginning of the Boris Johnson era.
It seems remarkable that, you know, a bunch of garden parties -- I'm not disputing that the hypocrisy that many people feel about the fact that
these allegedly happened while the British were -- British were locked down -- is extraordinary.
But it does seem at the end of the day, this is a remarkable (INAUDIBLE) should it be that.
FOSTER: Yes. Boris Johnson is very good at reading the public, isn't he?
So it's whether or not they care and those poll numbers are interesting. What he's good at is saying it's just a piece of cake or I just was trying
to -- it was a work party and I was just having a drink with colleagues.
I think, oh, I might have done that as well. But what the Labour Party is failing at doing is saying, well, it's different for Boris because he set
the rules. He shouldn't be breaking the rules.
ANDERSON: Again, we just did some reporting on what we see here. The leader of the opposition party, the Labour Party, Keir Starmer, you saw him
earlier on, during the prime minister's questions today.
That started off pretty raucous. But at the end of the session, he hadn't delivered that killer punch. And therein lies one of the problems for many
in British, who say they may not want this hypocrisy they see in Boris Johnson as the leader of the Conservative Party and the prime minister of
Britain anymore.
But who else?
FOSTER: And also none of them come out particularly well as strong leaders. That's why Boris is going so big on Ukraine as a European leader
because he can show strength. And his idol is Winston Churchill.
And he might see a moment to focus all the attention there, be seen a strong, get people rallying around him. There's this vacuum of leadership I
think you see in a lot of Western democracies at the moment.
So it's not really down to the public. But if the back bench is reading the public and thinking, who are they going to back, I think that's the debate
that will come out over whatever is in this report.
ANDERSON: Don't talk about the vacuum of leadership in France. President Emmanuel Macron would be very cross with you.
FOSTER: There's an election coming up.
ANDERSON: Thank you, sir. Good to have you here.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: We'll talk about that next hour.
U.S. diplomats in China say they want out, not because of COVID itself but because of China's response to it. We're going to get you the details.
Plus travel around Europe could get a lot easier soon. We'll tell you about the new E.U. plan for member countries. That after this.
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[10:30:00]
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ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson, coming to you from Expo 2020 Dubai. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD.
And the E.U. wants to lift travel restrictions for fully vaccinated residents within its bloc. Starting February 1st, people with E.U. COVID-19
certificates would no longer be subject to testing or quarantine requirements when traveling around Europe.
This proposal is in response to more people getting vaccinated and the rapid rollout of digital COVID certificates. This is despite Germany seeing
a record number of new COVID cases in the past 24 hours. Barbie Nadeau is covering this.
Walk us through what we know about these new proposals and who they would apply to.
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is interesting; on February 1 the recommendation for all European states will come into effect. These are
recommendations. Every country will have to come out how they apply them.
It will take confusion out of travel right now. In Italy, you need a negative PCR test 72 hours or negative antigen test 24 hours before coming
here. This takes the pressure off of people who have done their job, gotten their vaccines or heavily boosted and done everything they are supposed to
do.
And it puts pressure on people that are not vaccinated yet. The E.U. has said it's not going to be about the country of origin, it's about the
traveler. And it puts the pressure on the people that are still reluctant. And there are many that are not vaccinated yet.
ANDERSON: Barbie, thank you for that.
Competition in the Olympics is fierce. Now COVID is the unwanted guest at the games. What athletes are doing to cope.
Plus coming from behind for the win. Morocco advance in the Africa Cup of Nations. More on what was the impressive goal that pushed them through.
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[10:35:00]
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ANDERSON: China's quarantine measures to contain the coronavirus have some U.S. diplomats asking to go home. That's according to two sources, who tell
CNN, the diplomatic mission in China has formally made the request to the State Department.
They fear China's quarantine rules could separate minor children from their parents. David Culver has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: China's strict and at times unpredictable COVID containment measures, are taking a toll on diplomats
living here. So much so some want out.
A source familiar with the discussions tells me that the U.S. embassy has formally requested the State Department to grant American diplomats what is
called authorized departure.
Now that is not an ordered departure, which would essentially be an evacuation; rather, an authorized departure that allows U.S. personnel and
their families to leave China for a period of time, until they feel safe to return. This has not yet been approved by the State Department.
But it comes as Beijing is about to host the Olympics and a recent surge in cases. That has sparked more mass testing, strict lockdowns, contact
tracing and new restrictions on movement here.
The U.S. diplomatic source tells me that the request was made after several diplomats and their families expressed fears over China's tightening anti-
COVID measures that could potentially separate underaged children from parents, especially if put in quarantine.
It's not happened yet. But they're worried a worsening outbreak here might lead to that among foreigners, particularly diplomats.
On Wednesday, the Chinese government expressed serious concern and dissatisfaction over the U.S. embassy's request, adding that China's zero
COVID policy is, as they characterize it, "effective" even calling China the safest country in the world right now -- David Culver, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: As David mentioned, the Beijing Olympics set to begin in just over a week. And the concerns about COVID safety there still very much top
of mind. Olympic officials confirming 13 new COVID cases connected to the games, four of them discovered in the closed loop, a system designed to
separate personnel from the public. Selina Wang takes a look for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Winter Olympic athletes, just getting to Beijing is as nerve-racking as competing for gold. Nearly
3,000 athletes will be gathering under the world's strictest COVID countermeasures. They trained their entire careers for this moment. But a
positive COVID test could derail it all.
HANNAH SOAR, U.S. OLYMPIC FREESTYLE SKIER: One positive test is going to do us in at this point. It's super stressful. I didn't know that I really
struggle from with anxiety to be totally honest until like the past couple months.
WANG: U.S. mogul skier Hannah Soar and her teammates have been isolating in Utah for the past month. They live in separate homes, socially distanced
on the mountains order groceries for delivery.
SOAR: No one has looked at each other in the eyes. I haven't literally been inside anywhere besides this house for the past month.
WANG: Soar even wears a KN-95 mask under her neck warmer on the slopes.
SOAR: And so, I just treat everyone like they have COVID. And it creates a lot of anxiety in my life but hopefully gets me to China.
WANG: Athletes have to test negative for COVID twice before boarding a plane. Once within 96 hours and another within 72 hours before departure.
Then, daily tests in Beijing.
Organizers are relying on sensitive PCR tests, which mean recently recovered but healthy athletes could potentially be isolated or barred from
competing.
WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: They've gone to the public health extreme. That test is so sensitive. It is
merely picking up remnants of the virus. You are not contagious to anyone else.
[10:40:00]
WANG: Organizers aren't taking any chances. The host country is sticking to its zero COVID policy where just one case can trigger lockdowns and mass
testing.
During the Tokyo Summer Olympics here, 41 athletes tested positive for COVID. At least two dozen had to withdraw from competition. Now with
Omicron and even stricter rules at the Beijing Games, it's inevitable. Some athletes are going to lose their chance to compete.
A positive test could send an athlete into isolation at a facility in China until they get two consecutive negative tests which experts say could take
weeks.
Olympians will be completely separate from the rest of China, part of what organizers are calling a closed loop system, multiple bubbles connected by
dedicated shuttles. Then, there's the mountainous venues, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, North of Beijing, all connected by high speed rails.
British skeleton racer Laura Deas was in Yanqing last fall for training.
LAURA DEAS, BRITISH OLYMPIC SKELETON RACER: Everything we did, we -- you know, training, eating, sleeping was all within this bubble. But it felt
incredibly organized.
WANG: Ahead of the game, she's self-isolating in the U.K. and getting creative training without a gym. While Deas knows what to expect in
Beijing, it's the next few days that are the most tense.
DEAS: I've jumped all of these hurdles over the past few years to get this point and I'm just -- you know, just trying really hard to do all the right
things now so that I can get to Beijing safely without COVID.
WANG: For athletes this year, just stepping foot (sic) into the Olympic bubble will be a victory -- Selina Wang, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: You really have to feel for these athletes, don't you?
Morocco, through to the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations. The team beating Malawi, after Achraf Hakimi scored what was the impressive
winning goal in yesterday's match.
(WORLD SPORT)
END
