COVID cases have been on the rise in Japan and among Olympic teams. The athlete who tested positive was put into 14-day quarantine, eight days before the opening ceremony. It’s unclear if the athlete will miss their event.
In Qatar, an official from the refugee Olympic team tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, delaying almost the entire team’s arrival in Japan, the Associated Press reported. The official was placed in quarantine and all other members of the team tested negative.
“As a consequence, it was decided that the team would currently not travel to Tokyo and will continue their training in Doha while being tested daily,” the International Olympic Committee said. “The IOC, in cooperation with the Qatar Olympic Committee, is supporting the team and evaluating the situation. The next steps will be communicated once they are decided.”
In an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19 cases, the IOC and Japanese government officials announced on July 8 no fans from either abroad or Japan would be allowed to be physically present at the Olympics.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below:
The staffer classed as “games-concerned personnel”—a category including the International Olympic Committee, sports governing bodies, Olympic teams, sponsors and official broadcasting staff—tested positive on Tuesday and is also in quarantine for two weeks.
The six cases lifted the total to 26 COVID-19 infections of games participants and workers in Tokyo since July 1, organizers said.
Tokyo authorities also reported on Thursday 1,308 new COVID-19 cases for the highest daily total since Jan. 21. It was the 26th straight day of cases being higher than one week previously.
The postponed Tokyo Olympics are being held in a state of emergency one year after they were originally scheduled.
The organizers’ tally of COVID-19 cases does not include athletes and team officials testing positive at camps outside Japan.
The refugee team pushed back its arrival from a pre-games camp in Qatar because an unidentified member of the delegation was infected in a case announced Wednesday. The IOC said the person was single-vaccinated, has no symptoms and was isolated by Qatari authorities.
The delay meant the 29-athlete refugee team’s leader, former marathon women’s world record holder Tegla Loroupe, missed a meeting of chefs de mission at the Olympic village in Tokyo with IOC president Thomas Bach.
