Journalists reporting on the Winter Olympics are being offered the chance to sleep on the job thanks to high tech cabins at the Beijing media centre.
The 20 Sleep Rest Cabins, developed by China’s Keeson Technology Corp, allow reporters to pop in for a power nap of up to an hour with a simple scan of their mobile phone.
The spacious cabins contain the same bed Olympians are sleeping on in the Athletes’ Village with the user able to adjust their position and with a remote control or mobile phone.
“These sleep cabins are especially designed for the Beijing Winter Games,” company representative Zhao Yufeng said at the Beijing main media centre yesterday.
The beds, which also have a massage setting, are already attracting attention further afield. American luger Summer Britcher this week took to social media to show off her bed, comparing it favourably with the cardboard beds used at last year’s Tokyo Summer Games.
“It’s as if the Beijing organising committee said, ‘how can we just absolutely just one up Tokyo?’” Britcher said in a Tiktok video, describing the bed’s ‘zero gravity’ mode, which simulates the feeling of being in outer space, as “phenomenal”.
“Raising the head 15 degrees and legs by 35 degrees is beneficial for blood circulation and able to help the athletes to relieve stress and get a good night sleep”, she added.
The cabins are available in the media centre which is located within the “closed loop” bubble that separates Olympic Games participants from the public, in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The Games open on Friday.
Meanwhile in Beijing 34 new Covid-19 infections were detected among Olympics-related personnel, the Beijing 2022 Winter Games organising committee said yesterday, including Poland’s short track medal hopeful Natalia Maliszewska.
Of those, 13 were athletes or team officials who tested positive after arriving at the airport on Saturday. 
Of the total infections, 23 were among new airport arrivals, while 11 were people already in the “closed loop” bubble that separates event personnel from the public to try to curb the spread of infections.
The loop allows Games participants to move freely between their accommodations and Olympic venues on official transport, but they are not allowed to move freely in the city. All Games stakeholders, including media and staff, are also tested daily.
Maliszewska is the eighth Polish athlete to have tested positive and has gone into isolation, the Polish Olympic Committee said yesterday.