The Tokyo Olympic organisers on Tuesday announced the first case of a Games volunteer testing positive for Covid-19 along with seven more contractors associated with the mega event. Five athletes, three of them staying at the Games village, have tested positive for the virus till Monday. The volunteer who has returned a positive test is based in Iwate prefecture.
The total number of Games-related Covid infections has risen to 67 with the addition of nine more cases to the official list. The showpiece opens on July 23 and will go on till August 8.
Games volunteers are directly involved in assisting its operations before, during and after the event. They play an active role in helping create the excitement among fans and assist athletes in managing logistics.
With seven added to the list on Tuesday, the total number of infected contractors associated with the Games has gone up to 36. On Monday, Czech beach volleyball player Ondrej Perusic became the third athlete at the Olympic Games Village to test positive for Covid-19, while an American alternate woman gymnast training in Chiba prefecture also got infected.
This came after South African footballers Thabiso Monyane and Kamohelo Mahlatsi and video analyst Mario Masha tested positive for the virus on Sunday. The Games will be held behind closed doors amid tight health safety protocols to try and ensure that they do not end up being a super spreader event as is being widely feared.
Bach opens up about "sleepless nights"
With the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony knocking on the door, International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Thomas Bach has revealed how sleepless nights and doubts bothered him, saying the postponed Games proved to be more complicated than he had expected.
"Over the past 15 months we had to take many decisions on very uncertain grounds. We had doubts every day. We deliberated and discussed. There were sleepless nights. This also weighed on us, it weighed on me. But in order to arrive at this day today we had to give confidence, had to show a way out of this crisis," Bach said during an IOC session in Tokyo.
Bach also said that holding the Tokyo Games "will give humanity faith in the future" as the world continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic, adding that the Olympic stage is now set for the athletes "to shine and inspire the world".
Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who has been criticised at home for his government's halting coronavirus response, said the Olympics mark a turning point and that "after a long tunnel an exit is now in our sight".
Suga said the health and safety of the Japanese people and the Olympic guests from overseas will be protected. Attendees held a moment of silence for victims of the COVID pandemic before the start of the IOC Session.
