First resident of Olympic Village tests positive for COVID

National banners hang from balconies at an athlete's village as Tokyo prepares for the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 17, 2021.
National banners hang from balconies at an athlete's village as Tokyo prepares for the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 17, 2021. Copyright Charlie Riedel/AP
By AP with Euronews
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Tokyo Olympics organisers sought to reassure competitors that the event would be safe after the first Covid-19 case was confirmed in the Games Village on Saturday.

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The first resident of the Olympic Village has tested positive for COVID-19, Tokyo Olympic organisers said on Saturday, less than a week before kick-off. 

Officials said it was not an athlete with the Games opening and the positive test was on Friday. 

“In the current situation, that positive cases arise is something we must assume is possible,” said Toshiro Muto, the CEO of the Tokyo organising committee.

The person is identified simply as a “games-concerned personnel.” The person is also listed as a non-resident of Japan. Tokyo officials said the person was placed in a 14-day quarantine.

The Olympic Village on Tokyo Bay will house about 11,000 athletes during the Olympics and thousands of other staff.

IOC President Thomas Bach said this week there was “zero” risk of athletes in the village passing on the virus to Japanese or other residents of the village.

Organisers say since July 1 and as of Saturday, 44 people under their “jurisdiction” have tested positive. None involved people living in the village and most are identified as “contractors” for Tokyo 2020 and “games-concerned personnel." The list includes one athlete — who tested positive on July 14 — and three members of the media.

Of the 44, only 12 are listed as “non-resident of Japan.”

Organisers say that athletes and staff who have been away from Tokyo at training camps are excluded from this list and their accounting.

Tokyo officials said they could not give an estimate of the number of people in the village as of Saturday.

New COVID-19 cases on Friday in Tokyo were reported at 1,271. They were 822 a week ago, and it marks the 27th straight day that cases were higher than a week previous. New cases on Thursday were reported at 1,308, which was the highest in six months.

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