Tokyo Olympics 2020: Organisers confirm first COVID-19 case in Olympic Village

Tokyo: Tokyo Olympics organisers have confirmed the first COVID-19 positive case inside the Olympic Village. The case reportedly affects an official connected with the delayed Summer Games that are due to open on 23 July. Tokyo 2020 said the affected official has been placed into a 14-day quarantine and removed from the Village where thousands of athletes and officials will reside. “There was one person in the Village. That was the very first case in the Village that was reported during the screening test,” Masa Takaya, spokesman for the Tokyo organising committee, told a press conference “Right now this person is confined to a hotel,” Takaya said. Japanese media reported that the person who had tested positive was a foreign national. Seiko Hashimoto, the chief organiser of the Tokyo 2020 Games, said organisers were ready to respond swiftly if there was a wider outbreak. “We are doing everything to prevent any Covid outbreaks. If we end up with an outbreak we will make sure we have a plan in place to respond,” she said. Hashimoto conceded that competitors at the Games, which were postponed for a year because of the pandemic, would be anxious about the virus situation - and she vowed that organisers would not hide cases. “Athletes who are coming to Japan are probably very worried. I understand that,” she said. “That is the reason why we need to make full disclosure.” Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto said it was not yet known if the person had been vaccinated against Covid-19. “We don’t have any information on whether this person was vaccinated or not,” Muto said. He said competitors at the Games would be tested every day “so if someone tests positive, that person will be isolated immediately whether there are any close contacts or not”. The organisers had previously confirmed there had been 14 more new infections in Japan linked to the Games since 1 July. It took the total number in that period to 44, with less than a week to go to the Games that were initially supposed to be held last year but were pushed due to the pandemic. Also read: Protests against Tokyo Olympics and why IOC and Japanese government are not keen to cancel the Games Of the 13 positive cases recently, four were also from “Games connected personnel” — defined by the organisers as “those affiliated with the IOC, the International Paralympic Committee, NOCs, NPCs, International Federations, members of the Olympic and Paralympic Family, partners, Olympic Broadcasting Services members, etc”. Meanwhile, seven are contractors working on the Olympics, and the other two are members of the foreign media. At least five athletes have tested positive for COVID-19 since landing in Japan for the Games, while the Refugee Olympic Team delayed their journey to Tokyo after a delegation member returned a positive test . Tokyo recorded 1,271 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, a third straight day of 1000-plus cases in the Japanese capital. A large portion of the Japanese public have signalled their opposition to the Olympics and Paralympics going ahead, with polls suggesting the citizens are in favour of either the games being cancelled or postponed. Also read: Safety measures, COVID-19 outbreak — how organisers plan to hold Tokyo Olympics 2020 amid pandemic International Olympic Committee and organisers have insisted the strict measures will ensure the Games are “safe and secure”. IOC has claimed 85 per cent of residents in the Olympic Village have been vaccinated. IOC President Thomas Bach has this week tried to assure the Japanese public there is “zero” risk of the virus spreading to the people because of the COVID-19 countermeasures in place at the Games. The Indian contingent has started trickling into the Olympic Village over the last couple of days with more due to arrive over the next few days. Shooters arrived on Saturday, weighlifter Mirabai Chanu arrived on Friday, with sailor Vishnu Saravanan already testing the waters in Japan.