A joint inspection team has been established to investigate local winter sports venues, according to the Winter Sports Administrative Center of the General Administration of Sport of China.

Photo: Xinhua

Led by local sports departments, systematic scrutiny has been conducted in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Anhui, Gansu, Xinjiang to ensure the safety of people participating in winter sports.

During the National Short Track Speed Skating Championships, a symposium was jointly convened by the Winter Sports Administrative Center of the General Administration of Sport of China and some provincial sports bureaus at the National Ice Sports Training Base in Tianjin.

Ni Huizhong, director of the Winter Sports Center, pointed out that winter sports venues in various places have gradually resumed operations, and people are eager to participate. However, the recent safety accidents in some venues are distressing and sound the alarm for safety management.

“With sporadic outbreaks of COVID-19 in some cities, we must not slack off on pandemic prevention and control. Winter sports venues in particular are often crowded, closed, cold and humid. The rented sports equipment is prone to carry the virus, making it especially hard to curb the transmission,” he added.

The symposium emphasized that safety requirements should be observed. With a high sense of responsibility, authorities should proceed from the local conditions, explore innovative supervision methods, refine and implement regulation measures to ensure a "dual victory" on both safety management and COVID-19 prevention and control.

(Compiled by Liu Tongshan)