Three athletes, two of them staying at the Olympic Village, have tested positive for COVID-19, the Games Organising Committee announced on Sunday. The development adds to the scepticism around the Tokyo Olympics, which opens on July 23.
It is the first instance of athletes staying at the village catching the infection. Their identities have not been revealed by the organisers. The third infected athlete is staying at a designated games hotel.
A total of 10 cases were detected on the day, including five 'games concerned personnel', one contractor and a journalist, according to the COVID-19 positive case list uploaded by the OC Tokyo.
The total number of Olympic-related COVID cases has now risen to 55 as per the OC records.
"When there is a positive COVID 19 case, it means action. There is a clear procedure to identify close contacts. A case is not just data in a spreadsheet but leads to action, including immediate follow-up testing," International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi stated.
"We can safely say that 40,000 COVID-19 tests have been carried out before coming to Japan for 18,000 games participants. Then there is the screening on the airport followed by regular screening, testing for athletes every day," he added.
The organisers did not specify whether the two infected athletes staying at the village will be quarantined elsewhere.
"Since 1 July, more than 18,000 games participants arrived from overseas. All of them had at least 2 negative tests before arrival. When they arrived, they had another test. When they are here, there is a strict testing regime in place," said Pierre Ducrey, IOC games operations director.
"The participants of the Olympic games are the most controlled population in the world," he added.
The development comes a day after a non-athlete at the Olympic Village tested positive for the dreaded virus and was shifted out of the premises.
Lax control over movement?
Meanwhile, the Yomiuri Shimbun, a prominent Japanese newspaper, reported that the country's border control measures "have proven unequal to the challenge" of keeping pace with Olympic-related arrivals.
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The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that guests related to the Olympics are "required to report where they will travel in advance, and they are not allowed to travel to places other than official Olympic venues and the locations they reported in advance”.
"However, the hotel and security guards are not actively trying to confirm or track the behavior of these guests and some were going out without making reports," Yomiuri Shimbun reported. The publication added that "Olympic-related individuals have been seen walking beside ordinary travelers many times. There have also been reports about overseas media reporters sneaking out of their hotel and visiting sightseeing spots in Tokyo".
