Ahead of the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympic, the organisers on Saturday confirmed the first positive coronavirus case in the Games’ village. However, the person’s nationality has not been revealed citing privacy concerns.
Six days before the opening ceremony, the organisers said an unnamed person had tested positive for the Covid-19 during the screening test in the village where thousands of athletes and officials will stay during the Games.
Tokyo organising committee spokesperson Masa Takaya revealed this at a press conference, adding that this person has been confined to a hotel presently.
In view of the current situation, the Olympics are being held mostly without spectators and under tight quarantine rules. However, with the first positive Covid-19 case, the Japanese public has been opposing the event fearing a fresh wave of infections.
A Japanese media, meanwhile, has reported that the person detected with coronavirus was a foreign national.
While Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto has said they didn’t have any information on whether this person was vaccinated or not. However, the 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, he added.
Reassuring the competitors that the pandemic-delayed event would be safe, the chief organiser of the Tokyo 2020 Games, Seiko Hashimoto, has said they were ready to respond swiftly if there was a wider outbreak. They are doing everything to prevent any Covid outbreaks, even if they end up with an outbreak, they will ensure a plan in place to respond, she said.
Hashimoto also vowed that the organisers would not hide cases considering that competitors at the Games would be anxious about the virus situation. The athletes who are coming to Japan are probably very worried. Therefore, we need to make full disclosure, she said.