Photos: Life in the 'bubble' at the Beijing Olympics

From the moment participants at the Beijing Olympics step off the plane, they enter the “bubble” — a system of strict containment measures that aims to keep the coronavirus at bay for the duration of the Games.

It all starts at the airport, where workers in full-body white suits lead athletes, their coaches and others through entry procedures, including the first of daily COVID-19 tests. Participants are only allowed to shuttle between Olympic venues and their accommodation, all on specially reserved buses. Everywhere workers spray disinfectant, while bubble residents track their temperature, stay alert for any symptoms and repeatedly test for the virus.

It all starts at the airport, where workers in full-body white suits lead athletes, their coaches and others through entry procedures, including the first of daily COVID-19 tests. Participants are only allowed to shuttle between Olympic venues and their accommodation, all on specially reserved buses. Everywhere workers spray disinfectant, while bubble residents track their temperature, stay alert for any symptoms and repeatedly test for the virus.

The goal? To keep those attending the Games completely separate from the wider Chinese population, all while keeping infections to a minimum inside the bubble.

At each hotel and venue, fences mark off a perimeter beyond which those inside the bubble cannot stray. Those inside peer out at a city they cannot visit. Those outside peer into an event they will experience only on television.

Olympic workers in protective gear walk through the Beijing Capital International Airport as they work to assist passengers ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics, in Beijing.

Members of Team Norway stand for photographs after entering the gate of the Olympic Village ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

A woman outside the fenced off closed-loop area for the Olympics takes a picture of the Olympic Green ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

A member of Team Japan arrives at the Olympic Village for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

A worker in protective gear disinfects an Olympic shuttle bus ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Zhangjiakou, China.

A worker prepares to administer a COVID-19 test at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

A woman grabs her lunch delivered to her robotically in the media dining area of the main media center ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Evening rush hour traffic is seen through the window of an Olympic shuttle bus ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Chinese paramilitary police walk in formation on the Olympic Green near the edge of the closed-loop area at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

A guard opens the gate as an Olympic shuttle bus pulls into a hotel walled in by fences ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

A medical worker enters a hotel room to take a swab sample for a COVID-19 test head of the 2022 Winter Olympics in the Yanqing district of Beijing.

Two security personnel are seen through fences outside the main media center at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

A worker wearing a protective suit sprays disinfectant at a screening checkpoint for arriving athletes at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 1, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing.