With just five days to go for the much-awaited Tokyo Olympics, the organising committee on Sunday informed the first cases of coronavirus have been detected at the Games Village among athletes.
According to Kyodo News, the Tokyo Olympic organising committee said two athletes who are staying at the Games Village and another participant who is outside the Village have tested positive for coronavirus. This comes a day after it was reported that the first case of coronavirus was detected at the Games Village. However, the person found to be COVID-19 positive on Saturday was a non-athlete.
Meanwhile, after the latest meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB), IOC President Thomas Bach highlighted the successful implementation of the COVID-19 countermeasures outlined in the key stakeholder Playbooks and promised to bring the vibe of the world into the venues of Tokyo Olympics.
During the meeting, the IOC EB was informed by Tokyo 2020 that, between July 1 and 16, around 15,000 athletes, officials, and representatives from the media and other stakeholders had arrived in Tokyo. Only 15 had tested positive on their arrival or during a screening test, accounting for 0.1 per cent of arrivals so far on Saturday.
Meanwhile, three members of South Africa’s men’s under-23 football team have also tested positive for Covid-19 and they currently are in isolation in the Tokyo 2020 facility. The three members to test positive for Covid-19 are — Thabiso Monyane (player), Kamohelo Mahlatsi (player), and video analyst Mario Masha.
These three returned positive results in the latest round of daily sputum (saliva) testing.
As part of measures to manage the COVID-19 situation, the Organising Committee highlighted the decision made earlier this month that no spectators will be allowed to attend Tokyo 2020 events.