Follow Us on Google
A Nigerian Olympic delegate became the first visitor to the Tokyo Games admitted to hospital with COVID-19, broadcaster TV Asahi said on Friday, as Japan battles to stem rising local infections a week before the showpiece event starts.
The individual, a non-athlete in their 60s, tested positive on Thursday evening at the airport with mild symptoms but was hospitalised because of age and pre-existing conditions, the broadcaster said, without giving details.
Organisers have promised that the Games, starting on July 23 after being postponed from last year because of the pandemic, will be “safe and secure”.
The coronavirus has however infected increasing numbers of athletes and others involved with the Games, and authorities were on Friday trying to track down a Ugandan weightlifter who went missing from his training camp.
Tokyo is under a state of emergency for the duration of the event, and organisers have imposed strict testing and limits on delegates’ activities to try to soothe the concern of the Japanese public, many of whom wanted the Games cancelled or postponed again.
But most curbs to limit its spread in the host city – where infections hit a six-month high on Tudsday – are voluntary and many people say they have grown weary of them.
Among the latest batch of high-profile competitors to pull of out due to COVID-19 was tennis player Alex de Minaur, ranked 15th in the world, who the Australian Olympic Committee said had tested positive prior to his departure for the Games.
