Just one month before the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, Chinese authorities are busy implementing measures to prevent coronavirus outbreaks.

This will be the first time that the Winter Olympics will be held in China. The event will start on February 4 in the capital Beijing, and the city of Zhangjiakou, in the neighboring province of Hebei.

Officials on Monday rehearsed a medal ceremony near the "Birds Nest" national stadium, which will host the opening ceremony.

In the practice session, which was shown to media, staff members wearing masks acted as medalists. They climbed onto the podium, picked up medals and hung them around their own necks.
China confirmed 161 new cases on Sunday, 90 of which were in Xi'an in Shaanxi Province. The city of roughly 13 million people has effectively been in lockdown for more than 10 days.

New Year's events were cancelled across the country, as authorities were on heightened alert for possible outbreaks.

Only local spectators will be allowed at the Games. Organizers, however, have yet to disclose other details, including the spectator sizes.

Officials will put in place a "bubble" system to physically separate Games-related personnel from others as part of efforts to prevent the virus from spreading.