The Covid-19 situation at the Beijing Winter Olympics is within the “expected controllable range”, despite increasing positive cases being detected, a senior official at China's Olympics Pandemic Prevention and Control Office has said.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Organising Committee has reported 200 Covid cases since Jan 23 among airport arrivals and those in the Games “closed-loop” bubble that separates all event personnel, including athletes, from the public, according to a Reuters report.

“As more people are entering China the imported Covid-19 cases are increasing,” said Huang Chun, deputy director general of the committee's Pandemic Prevention and Control Office at a press briefing.

Huang said rising cases were also a result of more effective and accurate Covid detection techniques by customs.