Tokyo Olympics linked COVID cases go past 100, organisers announce 19 new cases

The Tokyo Olympic organisers, in their daily COVID-19 update, announced that three athletes, 10 Games-concerned personnel, three mediapersons and as many contractors associated with the event have been found positive.

PTI
July 23, 2021 / 08:51 AM IST

This aerial photo shows the Olympic rings on the Odaiba waterfront in Tokyo, as the city prepares to host the 2020 Olympic Games. (Image: AFP)

The COVID-19 cases associated with the Olympic Games breached the 100-mark on Friday with the announcement of 19 new infections and the Czech contingent seemed among the worst hit after a fourth athlete -- road cyclist Michal Schlegel -- tested positive for the virus.

The Tokyo Olympic organisers, in their daily COVID-19 update, announced that three athletes, 10 Games-concerned personnel, three mediapersons and as many contractors associated with the event have been found positive.

The total number of cases directly linked to the Games stood at 106 on Friday with 11 of them athletes.

The Czech contingent reported its sixth overall case even as it investigated breach of health safety protocols while travelling to Japan.

"The fourth athlete and the sixth Czech member of the team, who did not avoid a positive test for COVID-19 at the Tokyo Olympics, is road cyclist Michal Schlegel," the country's National Olympic Committee (NOC) stated.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

View more
How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

View more
Show

"His positive antigen test was also confirmed by PCR analysis in a cycling village in Izu. Now Schlegel is back in the hotel for road cyclists in isolation," it added.

Schlegel was to compete on Saturday but "will not make it to the Olympic road race".

The other athletes in the Czech contingent to have tested positive are beach volleyball players Ondrej Perusic and Marketa Nausch, and table tennis player Pavel Sirucek.

"Other road cycling representatives Tereza Neumanova and Michael Kukrle also went to Tokyo for testing," the Czech NOC stated.

"Zdenek Stybar stayed in the cycling hotel, as he was not on board a charter flight from Prague and arrived in Japan two days later."

On Thursday, the Czech contingent's doctor Vlastimil Voracek also tested positive for the virus.

Before that, a beach volleyball coach had also returned a positive test at the Games village.

In other contingents, Chilean Taekwondo player Fernanda Aguirre, Dutch skateboarder Candy Jacobs and taekwondo hope Reshmie Oogink are among the cases that have reported among athletes who have landed in Tokyo and forced to withdraw from their events.

Previously, two South African footballers, and an American beach volleyball player had also tested positive while being here. Some athletes have been forced to withdraw even before reaching the city, found positive in tests conducted in their home countries.
PTI
Tags: #coronavirus #Covid-19 #Sports #Tokyo Olympics #World News
first published: Jul 23, 2021 08:53 am