[ad_1]
A resident of the Tokyo Olympics athletes’ village has tested positive for COVID-19 — the first case found there, local officials said Saturday.
Toshiro Muto, CEO of the organizing committee, said the person is a visitor from abroad involved in planning the Games, and not an athlete, The Guardian reported.
The positive test came back on Friday, and the person was placed in a 14-day quarantine, officials said.
The person lives in the Olympic Village on Tokyo Bay, which will eventually house about 11,000 athletes during the Games and thousands of other staff. It’s unclear how many people were there as of Saturday.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said this week there was “zero” risk of athletes in the village passing on the virus to others living there.
Organizers with the Olympic village said that since July 1, 2021, 44 people — including members of the media have tested positive for COVID-19 and are now being quarantined.SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett
The case comes just a week before the beleaguered Tokyo Games kick off on July 23, after being pushed off for a year because of the pandemic.
The city is under a coronavirus-related state of emergency amid a surge in COVID-19 infections spurred by the Delta variant.
According to a poll, may Japanese citizens would like to see the games postponed or cancelled due to not being able to attend events. Valery Sharifulin/TASS
Since July 1 and as of Saturday, organizers say 44 people in their “jurisdiction” have tested positive for the virus, according to records on the game’s website. None of those cases involved people living in the village.
The list includes one unnamed athlete — who tested positive on Wednesday and is undergoing a 14-day quarantine — and three members of the media.
Toshiro Muto, CEO of the organization committee, said that the person who tested positive was just a visitor to the country and not an athlete. AFP via Getty Images
Most are identified as contractors or “games-concerned personnel.” Only 12 are listed as “non-resident of Japan.”
Health officials recorded 1,485 new cases in the city Thursday, the highest tally recorded in six months.
Spectators are banned from all events in the capital city under the state of emergency, and polls show a majority of Japanese people think the event should be postponed again or canceled due to surging COVID-19 cases.
With Post Wires
[ad_2]
Source link