WAVY.com

First resident of Olympic Village tests positive for COVID-19, officials say

  • Julius Ayo

    • Organizers confirmed the first positive COVID-19 case in a resident of Tokyo's Olympic Village.(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

    (NEXSTAR) – The Olympic Village has its first case of COVID-19, Tokyo officials have confirmed.

    The case, detected via a positive COVID-19 test on Friday, was observed in a “games-concerned personnel” and not an athlete, organizers said in a recent report. The patient’s identity was not disclosed, though they were listed as a non-resident of Japan.


    The patient is also under a 14-day quarantine, the official report indicates.

    The case represents just one of over a dozen new cases reported by organizers on Saturday, but the first within the Olympic village. Most others were observed in contractors or members of the media, following positive tests between July 14 and July 16, according to official documentation.

    News of Friday’s positive case within the Olympic Village also comes after Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), had said there was “zero” risk of athletes passing the virus to other residents of the Olympic Village or the people of Japan earlier this week.

    The case, detected via a positive COVID-19 test on Friday, was observed in a “games-concerned personnel” and not an athlete, organizers said in a recent report. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

    At a press conference Saturday, Bach said the positive cases were evidence that routine screenings were effective.

    “We have been informed by Tokyo 2020, that from the 1st of July to the 16th of July, around 15,000 athletes, officials and other accredited people … have arrived here in Tokyo and, as you know, have been tested upon arrival,” said Bach. He added that only 15 people tested positive “at arrival or during their screening tests” for a rate of just 0.01%.

    All patients were isolated so as not to pose a risk to other participants or the Japanese population, Bach said.

    Since July 1, organizers have said that a total of 45 people under the IOC’s “jurisdiction” have tested positive for COVID-19. Only one of those is an athlete from abroad — who was not residing in the Olympic Village — and who is currently under quarantine.

    “This shows the measures are not only in place, but that they are working and that they are enforced,” Bach added at Saturday’s press conference, in reference to the 15 new cases reported on Saturday.

    The Olympic Village on Tokyo Bay is expected to house roughly 11,000 athletes during the Tokyo Summer Games, as well as “thousands” of staff members, the Associated Press reported.

    The 2020 Olympics are scheduled to begin Friday, July 23, and last through Aug. 8.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.