The black series of these cursed Olympics does not end. With the discovery of three positive cases for Covid-19 within the South African football team and one case in the Czech beach volleyball team, the Tokyo Games are faced with the management of a first source of contamination within the Olympic Village. Five days before the opening of the Olympics (July 23 – August 8), the fear of cascading infections in this unparalleled place in the sporting world is in everyone’s mind. “It is inevitable that we have cases”, admitted Sunday Christophe Dubi, director of the Games within the IOC, aware of the fears of a part of the Japanese population vis-a-vis this planetary meeting.
- Who are the people infected with Covid-19?
The organizers have detected two players of the South African football team infected in the village, after announcing the very first positive case – of a member of the management – in this huge emblematic residence of the Games the day before. These three members of the South African delegation are in solitary confinement in an adequate establishment in Tokyo-2020 “, explains the South African Olympic committee in its press release which specifies that the other members of the football team had tested negative .
The two positive athletes and their companion were therefore “isolated in their room and Tokyo-2020 brings them their meals”, continued the same source, then 21 “close contacts” were identified on Monday. South Africa face Japan, France and Mexico in the group stage of the men’s Olympic tournament which begins on Thursday, on the eve of the opening ceremony of the Games.
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A Czech beach volleyball player, a resident of the Olympic Village in Tokyo, has also tested positive for Covid-19, the Czech Olympic Committee (COV) said on Monday in a statement. Ondrej Perusic tested positive on Sunday, during daily tests carried out in the village, said the head of the Czech Olympic delegation Martin Doktor. “He has absolutely no symptoms. We are looking at everything in detail, and in particular paying attention to the anti-transmission measures within the team,” he added.
- What measures have been taken with regard to them?
The “contact” cases immediately underwent nasopharyngeal tests, in addition to the daily saliva control of the participants in the Games, they will have to “eat in their room, train separately and take separate transport”, explained Pierre Ducrey, director. Assistant for the Olympic Games within the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The duration of these precautionary measures, which affect group life as well as the preparation for the competition, will depend on the verdict of the anti-Covid “control center” in the Olympic village.
“It is only when the experts have determined that you no longer represent a risk to others that you can join your team,” explained Pierre Ducrey. For his part, Christophe Duby assured that “everything was in place to limit the mixing of populations” and “maintain the risk” of chain contamination “to an absolute minimum”.
As long as they remain negative for Covid-19, these “close contacts” therefore do not undergo isolation as rigorous as that reserved for infected people, who are placed in a place provided for by Tokyo-2020, or in a care structure in cases of symptoms.
On the other hand, the IOC and Tokyo-2020 have no control over another category of participants placed in isolation, this time by the Japanese authorities: this is the case of six British athletes and two members of their management, tested negative. but “contacts” of a passenger of their plane tested positive, and cloistered Sunday in their respective rooms at their team’s training camp in Yokohama. The South African rugby sevens team was isolated last Wednesday after a positive case on its flight from Doha, then got the green light to go to Kagoshima (south) for an internship four days late, before that his coach Neil Powell is in turn tested positive.
- Are these the first cases of Covid-19 linked to the Olympic Games?
No, since the IOC on Sunday identified 55 positive tests among the 30,000 carried out on 18,000 athletes, supervisors, officials or journalists who arrived in Japan since July 1. The IOC has also confirmed that one of its members, the South Korean Seung Min Ryu, had tested positive on his arrival in the archipelago.
Tuesday and Wednesday, the 102 members of the body are to meet in a palace in the Japanese capital for their general assembly. However, positive cases linked to the Games remain very marginal for the time being, underlined Saturday IOC boss Thomas Bach, who for months has been promising “safe” Olympics for participants as well as for the Japanese population.
- What is the health situation in Japan?
Infection rates are rising among the general population of Tokyo, exceeding 1,000 new cases for four consecutive days. Polls show that many Japanese are opposed to holding the Games with the influx of foreign visitors it implies.
To alleviate the difficulties linked to the health crisis, the organizers of the Olympic Games had concentrated their efforts on the vaccination of the delegations, reaching an agreement in May with the Pfizer and BioNTech laboratories before setting up in June Olympic “vaccinodromes” in Qatar and in Rwanda.
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The body now highlights the intensive screening of participants in the Games, the limitation of contacts and the immediate isolation of positive cases. “It is probably the most controlled population in the world at the moment,” insisted Pierre Ducrey. At the peak of the competition, 6,000 people are expected at the Olympic Village.
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