The Olympic Village has been plunged into chaos after two athletes tested positive for the virus in Tokyo, reports DAILY MAIL.
Olympic organisers revealed the news on Sunday, as the South African football team announced that two of their players had tested positive.
They were named as players Thabiso Monyane and Kamohelo Mahlatsi.
They are the first athletes in the village to be reported positive, adding to the uncertainty around the Tokyo Olympics that are to open on Friday after being delayed a year by the pandemic.
Video Analyst Mario Masha from the South African squad also tested positive on arrival in Tokyo as the team prepares to face hosts Japan on Thursday.
In total, organisers on Sunday reported 10 new cases connected to the Olympics, the BBC reports.
These include media, contractors and other personnel. A further 15 new cases were reported on Saturday.
‘We have three positive cases of COVID-19 in the camp here, two players and an official,’ team manager Mxolisi Sibam said in a media release from the South African Football Association on Sunday.
‘There is daily screening…Masha and Monyane reported high temperatures and positive saliva tests, and were then taken to do the nasal test…and they, unfortunately, tested positive for COVID-19.
‘Mahlatsi is the latest player to go through the same process.’
He said, as a result, the team has been quarantined until cleared to train, waiting for results from tests earlier on Sunday.
‘This unfortunate situation has made us miss our first intensive training session last night.’
It comes as a member of IOC’s Refugee Olympic Team was also confirmed to have caught the virus.
Former distance runner Tegla Loroupe, the chief of mission for the IOC’s Refugee Olympic Team, is reported to be the IOC athlete who tested positive.
The result is understood to have been recorded before the team was to depart its Doha, Qatar, training base for Tokyo.
It forced the IOC team to delay its arrival in Tokyo where the Olympics open on Friday.
The International Olympic Committee issued a statement several days ago and said only that an unnamed ‘official’ returned a positive test in the Refugee Team delegation.
But Anne-Sophie Thilo, a press spokesperson for the team, declined to confirm the identity of the IOC Olympic team who tested positive.
Source/Author: DAILY MAIL
