Days before the Tokyo Olympics open, two athletes have become the first to test Covid positive, Games officials said on Sunday. A routine count of cases revealed two athletes inside the Village, and one elsewhere, returned positive tests.
This development has happened after the first coronavirus case was reported from the Olympics Village on Saturday. According to officials, the person contracting Covid was not an athlete. Tokyo officials, including Seiko Hashimoto, the president of the organising committee, had confirmed the case, saying they can only offer a vague description and few details for confidentiality purposes.
"In the current situation, that positive cases arise is something we must assume is possible," said Toshiro Muto, the CEO of the Tokyo organizing committee.
The person is identified simply as a games-concerned personnel. The person is also listed as a non-resident of Japan. Tokyo officials said the person was placed in a 14-day quarantine.
The Olympic Village on Tokyo Bay will house about 11,000 athletes during the Olympics and thousands of other staff. IOC President Thomas Bach said this week there was zero risk of athletes in the village passing on the virus to Japanese or other resident of the village.
Organisers say since July 1 and as of Saturday, 45 people under their jurisdiction have tested positive. Only one involves a person in the village and most are identified as contractors for Tokyo 2020 and games-concerned personnel." The list includes one athlete who tested positive on July 14 and three members of the media.
Of the 45, only 12 are listed as non-resident of Japan. Organisers say that athletes and staff who have been away from Tokyo at training camps are excluded from this list and their accounting. Tokyo officials said they could not give an estimate of the number of people in the village as of Saturday.
New Covid-19 cases on Saturday were reported at 1,410. They were 950 one week ago, and it marks the 28th straight day that cases were higher than a week previous. It was the highest single day since 1,485 on January 21.
