Guwahati: Six days before the opening ceremony, the Tokyo Olympics registered its first Covid-19 case as a person tested positive in the athletes’ village, organisers said on Saturday. The Games are set to begin on July 23.
Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto confirmed that a visitor from abroad who is involved in organising the Games had tested positive. He would not reveal the person’s nationality, citing privacy concerns.
“There was one person in the Village. That was the very first case in the Village that was reported during the screening test,” Masa Takaya, spokesman for the Tokyo organising committee, told a press conference.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics, postponed for a year due to the global pandemic, is being held mostly without spectators and under tight quarantine rules.
Seiko Hashimoto, the chief organiser of the Tokyo 2020 Games, said: “We are doing everything to prevent any Covid outbreaks. If we end up with an outbreak we will make sure we have a plan in place to respond.”
The news comes a day after IOC President Thomas Bach had assured that the Games won’t bring any risk to the Japanese people.
“We are making all our efforts and the Japanese people have all our commitment to contribute in the best way to fight this virus and not to bring any risk to the Japanese people,” Bach told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
Bach had also added that most of all the residents in the Olympic Village in Tokyo were vaccinated.
“This is why I’d like to humbly ask the Japanese people to warmly welcome the athletes from all around the world who have overcome, like the Japanese people, so many challenges.”
