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First COVID case found at athletes' village, raising fears ahead of Game
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, Reuters reported.
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The logo of the Tokyo Olympic Games, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office building in Tokyo, Japan, January 22, 2021. (Reuters/Issei Kato/File Photo)
A
person has tested positive for COVID-19 at the Tokyo Olympics athletes' village, organisers said on Saturday, adding to concerns about infections at the Games which begin next week.
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, Reuters reported.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics, postponed for a year due to the global pandemic, is being held mostly without spectators and under tight quarantine rules.
Meanwhile, a Ugandan athlete who took part in pre-Olympic training camp in western Japan has gone missing, leaving a note to the effect of, "I want to work in Japan," local officials said Friday, with police now conducting a search in a case that may raise further questions about the safety of the games to be held amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Julius Ssekitoleko, a 20-year-old weightlifter staying in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, purchased at a local station a shinkansen bullet train ticket to Nagoya, about 200 kilometers away, the city said, nearly a day since the athlete was last seen.
Ssekitoleko, who missed a spot for the Olympics after arriving in Japan last month, said in the note left at his hotel that he does not want to return to Uganda because life there is difficult and asked members of his delegation to give his belongings to his wife in his home country, according to the city.
He was not at his hotel when an official attempted to receive his sample for coronavirus testing at around noon Friday, the city said, adding he was last seen at around 12:30 a.m. by a teammate.
The development just a week before the opening of the Olympics may fuel concerns over the anti-virus measures in place by the games' organizers, which have said athletes will only be allowed to go to limited locations and will not come into contact with locals.
All delegation members must submit their samples for COVID-19 testing in the morning, but the official did not receive Ssekitoleko's sample by noon, according to the city.
The nine-member Ugandan delegation arrived at Narita airport near Tokyo on June 19 as one of the first teams to come to Japan for the games, but two members have tested positive for the coronavirus, Kyodo News reported.
