Shuey Rhon Rhon (L), the mascot of the 2022 Winter Paralympics, and Bing Dwen Dwen, the mascot of the 2022 Winter Olympics, are pictured in the Olympic Village in Beijing on January 27. (Artyom Ivanov/TASS/Getty Images)
The mascot for the Winter Olympics is Bing Dwen Dwen -- a panda dressed in a full-body "shell" made out of ice -- and Shuey Rhon Rhon for the Paralympics, a Chinese lantern child.
Bing Dwen Dwen (Bing means "ice" in Mandarin Chinese, while Dwen Dwen means "child") was chosen from more than 5,800 submissions from around the world.
The "shell" design enables the panda -- China's national animal -- to skate, snowboard and ski.
According to the Paralympic website, Shuey is the same pronunciation as the Chinese character for "snow," the first Rhon means "to include, to tolerate," and the second means "to melt, fuse and warm."
5:10 a.m. ET, February 4, 2022
Stepped up security ahead of Beijing 2022 opening ceremony
From CNN's Selina Wang and Ben Church
Authorities have stepped up security around Beijing 2022 venues as Friday's Opening Ceremony fast approaches.
Lots of surrounding streets are blocked off around the Beijing National Stadium, commonly referred to as The Bird's Nest, which will host the curtain raiser.
There are crowds of security guards in the area and multiple gates to pass through in order to get to the stadium.
There is also the 'closed loop' to contend with as organizers bid to stop the spread of Covid-19 during the Games.
Anyone entering the bubble must be fully vaccinated, or face an additional 21-day quarantine upon arrival in Beijing, before being allowed in.
They must also use an app to upload their body temperature and answer questions about their health status every day.
Participants will be tested for Covid-19 every day and must wear face masks at all times.
4:55 a.m. ET, February 4, 2022
What happens if an athlete tests positive for Covid-19?
An official wearing personal protective equipment directs arriving passengers at a PCR testing center at Beijing Capital International Airport on Thursday. (Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile/Getty Images)
The stakes for catching Covid-19 at Beijing 2022 are extremely high.
Participants who test positive will be immediately removed from the Games.
Those who are symptomatic will be sent to a designated hospital for treatment, while asymptomatic cases will be taken to an isolation facility.
They won't be allowed to return to the bubble until all symptoms disappear and they test negative twice in a row -- meaning they'll almost certainly miss their event.
The PCR tests for the Beijing Winter Games are also more stringent than those used by others sports events, such as the NBA and NHL, meaning they can return positive at a lower viral load.
A positive test can also affect the person's teammates and colleagues.
Anyone who has had a mask-less exposure for longer than 15 minutes to an infected person is considered a close contact and will be subject to twice daily testing.
The system -- and China's sensitive testing policy -- has already been put to the test after German-born Belgian skeleton racer Kim Meylemans tested positive upon her arrival into Beijing and was sent to an isolation facility.
Her emotional Instagram post and subsequent involvement from the IOC shows how serious China is about limiting any hint of infection.
4:50 a.m. ET, February 4, 2022
President Putin and President Xi begin bilateral talks in Beijing
From CNN's Hannah Ritchie and Ben Morse
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose during their meeting in Beijing, on February 4, 2022. ALEXEI DRUZHININ/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
Bilateral talks are underway in Beijing between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, according to Chinese state media.
In their first in-person meeting in over two years, the two leaders will discuss bilateral trade and key issues on “regional and global agendas,” according to a letter by Putin published Thursday by Xinhua News Agency, ahead of the meeting.
In the same letter, Putin praised the "new era" of relations between China and Russia and highlighted the growing economic and energy ties between the two countries.
According to Chinese state media, Xi said that the pair met at the Opening Ceremony at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, at which they promised they'd meet eight years later in Beijing, and that he hopes their meeting will "inject more vitality into China-Russia relations."
China's President is expected to host a series of bilateral meetings Friday and a banquet for dignitaries attending the Winter Games -- including United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, according to Beijing.
4:24 a.m. ET, February 4, 2022
Ukrainian bobsledder Lydia Gunko says Russia military tensions have weighed on her preparations
From CNN's Ben Morse, Selina Wang and Sandi Sidhu
The Games are a big moment for Lydia Gunko, Ukraine's first female bobsledder at the Winter Olympics — one of the new sports being debuted in Beijing.
This competition is "extremely important ... for the development of this sport in Ukraine," Gunko told CNN, adding she hopes her appearance will have an impact back home.
But looming over her debut is the stand-off between Ukraine and Russia, with tensions high after thousands of Russian troops moved to the border between the two nations.
Ukrainians warned to avoid Russians: Ukraine's sports minister has already said its athletes should stay away from their Russian rivals — who, like in Tokyo 2020, are competing under the ROC banner again because of a doping scandal — at the Games, and that Ukrainian athletes have been briefed on how to behave in case of "provocations."
Gunko, 28, said she will follow the guidance, adding the conflict has weighed on her mentally ahead of the Games.
"We are clearly not friends with the Russian athletes," Gunko told CNN. "We have to train and perform with them but because their country wants to violate our integrity, we cannot have easy contact with them."
She added: "You try to distance yourself from all of this during competition and training. Of course, in real life, you can't isolate yourself because many friends and acquaintances suffered from Russia's actions."
China's Olympic bubble is arguably the most ambitious quarantine ever undertaken
A "Closed loop, No Entry" sign is seen in the stands at the Big Air course ahead of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the National Ski Jumping Centre on January 31. (Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
Having been largely sealed off from the world for two years, Beijing is now welcoming the arrival of thousands of foreign Olympians, officials, journalists and support staff — including from countries where the highly transmissible Omicron variant is raging.
Whether Chinese authorities can keep the Games Covid-safe is the ultimate test of China's zero-Covid strategy.
To limit the spread, it is sealing the entire Games inside what authorities have called a "closed loop system" — a bubble completely cut off from the rest of the city.
Here's how it works: The Beijing bubble is welcoming an estimated 11,000 people from around the world — and they will be shuttling through three competition zones up to 111 miles (180 kilometers) apart.
Securing the bubble will require massive manpower, meticulous planning, pervasive surveillance and rigorous government enforcement.
The separation: Participants will be confined to the "closed loop" and they will compete, work, eat and sleep without making any contact with the wider Chinese population.
The "closed loop" consists of a series of stadiums, conference centers and more than 70 hotels, with those in downtown Beijing fenced off and closely guarded by police; it even has its own transportation system, with 4,000 vehicles dedicated to moving participants from place to place.
The three zones are linked by high-speed train and highways. To maintain the separation, even the train cars are divided, and the closed-loop buses are given specially marked lanes. Drivers not part of the Olympics who cross into these lanes will be fined.
Athletes, staff and volunteers inside the closed loop will also be separated from spectators, who have their own transport and entrance to the events.
Inside the bubble: Anyone entering the bubble must be fully vaccinated, or face an additional 21-day quarantine upon arrival in Beijing before being allowed in.
They must also use an app to upload their body temperature and answer questions about their health status every day.
Participants will be tested for Covid every day and must wear face masks at all times.
3:42 a.m. ET, February 4, 2022
White House lit up red, white and blue to cheer on Team USA
The White House was lit up in red, white and blue — the colors of the American flag — on Thursday night, in support of American athletes competing at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
"Go Team USA!" a tweet from the White House's official account read.
Though the US sent its athletic teams to the Games, it decided not to send any government officials to attend as part of a diplomatic boycott, protesting alleged human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims in China's Xinjiang region.
The decision was met with furious warnings of retaliation from China, which denies the allegations. Several other countries, including Canada and Australia, have also joined the diplomatic boycott.
3:00 a.m. ET, February 4, 2022
North Korea's Kim Jong Un hails Winter Olympics as sign China is "vigorously advancing"
From CNN’s Yoonjung Seo and Taylor Barnes
In a message to Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hailed the event as proof that “no difficulty and challenge can ever prevent the Chinese people from vigorously advancing.”
The message, published in North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), also called Beijing’s hosting of the event amid a global health crisis and “unprecedented severe circumstances” a “great victory won by socialist China.”
Kim called the Olympics “a festival common to the peoples and sportspersons of all countries in the world aspiring after peace, friendship and solidarity.”
2:43 a.m. ET, February 4, 2022
China sets a world record in figure skating pairs event
China's Wenjing Sui and Cong Han compete in the figure skating team pairs short program on Friday. (Alexander Vilf/Sputnik/AP)
A world record was set Friday in the figure skating team event — and it came from the host nation.
China dazzled in the third segment of Friday's session: pairs skating. Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, skating to music from the movie "Mission Impossible 2," set a short program world record score of 82.83 points.
After three segments of the total eight, the United States leads with 28 points. The ROC (Russian Olympic Committee) has 26 points, while China is in third with 21 points. The team event is scheduled to conclude Monday.
To start off the team event Friday, American men’s figure skater Nathan Chen put the US in the lead with his performance in the men’s single short skate portion of the program. Chen, a three-time world champion at just 22 years old, notched a personal best of 111.71 to give Team USA 10 points.
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue extended Team USA’s lead, adding 10 points for their top performance in the ice dance rhythm dance portion of the team competition.
