Tokyo Olympic Committee Announces First Positive Case of COVID-19 in Olympic Village | Launderer report

CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images

The Tokyo Olympic Games Organizing Committee announced on Saturday that the Olympic Village recorded its first positive COVID-19 test result.

“We spare no effort [to
keep the Olympic Village safe]”Seiko Hashimoto committee chairperson told reporters.

CNN’s Junko Ogura reported that organizers said the person was a “non-resident of Japan who is involved in hosting the Games,” but provided no further information, citing privacy concerns.

The positive test comes after a week in which several athletes and staff tested positive for COVID-19 or were considered close contact from someone who did so before entering the Olympic Village ahead of Friday’s opening ceremony, according to Julian Ryall of South China Morning Post.

“This is extremely disturbing because I am pretty sure these cases are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Kazuhiro Tateda, president of the Japan Association of Infectious Diseases.

A recent increase in COVID-19 cases in Tokyo has led Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to declare a state of emergency at least until August 22. The Olympics run until August 8, followed by the Paralympics from August 24 to September 5.

The president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, said the Games would run safely and promised “not to put the country at risk”, according to Ryall.

“We are making every effort and the Japanese people have all our commitment to contribute in the best way to fight this virus and not to put the Japanese people at risk,” Bach said.

Yet between the already growing number of cases in Japan and athletes from around the world coming to the country amid the growing prevalence of the Delta variant, experts who spoke with Time magazine said there were “no zero risk scenarios” for hosting the Games.

“As far as I know, there is no report or risk assessment result,” said virologist Hitoshi Oshitani, who helped create Japan’s COVID-19 strategy. “So we don’t have any concrete material to judge whether the risk is acceptable for Japan and other countries.”

After the Olympics, athletes will return to their more than 200 different home countries, which could extend the impact beyond the two-week international sporting event.

The Games had already been delayed from last year due to the pandemic.