Latest figures published by Beijing 2022 revealed that there were two positive coronavirus cases among the 69,786 Games participants that were tested yesterday.

One of the cases came at the airport with the other identified inside the closed loop, according to Beijing 2022.

Among the testing figure, 5,899 were athletes and team officials but organisers confirmed that none reported positive results.

It is the fourth day in a row that cases have been fewer than four, which Beijing 2022 claim emphasises the effectiveness of its "closed loop management system" that separates Games participants from the local population and sees all attendees undergo daily testing.

The rapid spread of the highly transmissible Omicron coronavirus variant across the world had wreaked havoc on teams’ preparations for the Games.

Many athletes tested positive for COVID-19 either at the airport or shortly after their arrival in Beijing, including triple Olympic Nordic combined champion Eric Frenzel of Germany and world bobsleigh number one Elana Meyers Taylor of the United States.

The Russian Olympic Committee's women's ice hockey team were also hit by a series of coronavirus cases during their campaign at Beijing 2022, with players playing in masks over safety concerns.

But the situation appears to have come under control with the Games scheduled to close on Sunday (February 20).

"We sometimes forget that we are in the middle of a global pandemic and we are hosting probably one of the most complex international events in the world very successfully," said IOC spokesperson Mark Adams.

"We are now making sure that those that need to leave can do so safely and is a huge logistical challenge, but I take my hat off to my Chinese colleagues for some really great work.

"The Games are not over yet but we are getting there slowly."

Huang Chun, deputy director general of office of pandemic prevention and control for Beijing 2022, praised the efforts of all Games participants for helping to keep the number of COVID-19 cases to a minimum.

"Within the closed loop, it was not our target to have a zero COVID positive cases before the Games against the backdrop of a global pandemic," said Huang.

"We understood that there would be imported cases.

"The Games are still going on and we are optimistic but we still need to be very careful.

"The success of the countermeasures means the success of the Games."

Huang hailed the publication of the playbooks as a major factor in the success of keeping COVID-19 cases to a relatively low figure during these Games. 

"The IOC, IPC (International Paralympic Committee) and Beijing 2022 have worked very closely together in developing the playbooks," he said.

"All the scientists and doctors in China and across the world are following very closely the development of the pandemic.

"We are making very careful analysis of each case and we are making judgment as to the development trends of COVID within the closed loop and make adaptive measures.

"Every participant has been following the playbook strictly, making preventative measures and taking the PCR tests every day so these the joint result of everyone."

The overall cumulative total of cases for the Games-time period which started on January 23 now stands at 435, with 1,537,303 tests conducted during this time, according to Beijing 2022.

With a "zero-COVID" strategy, China has one of the world’s most strict policies to combat coronavirus.