COVID scare at Olympics: 3 athletes test positive for COVID-19, 2 staying at Olympic Village
Tokyo: Three athletes, two of them staying at the Olympic Village, have tested positive for COVID-19, the Games Organising Committee announced on Sunday, the development adding to the scepticism around the troubled event which opens on July 23.
It is the first instance of athletes staying at the village catching the infection. Their identities have not been revealed by the organisers. The third infected athlete is staying at a designated Games hotel.
A total of 10 cases were detected on the day, including five "Games concerned personnel", one contractor, and a journalist, according to the COVID-19 Positive Case List uploaded by the OC here.
The total number of Games-related COVID cases have now risen to 55 as per the OC records.
"When there is a positive COVID 19 case - it means action. There is a clear procedure to identify close contacts. A case is not just data in a spread sheet but leads to action, including immediate follow-up testing," International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi stated.
"We can safely say that 40,000 COVID 19 tests have been carried out before coming to Japan for 18,000 Games participants. Then there is the screening on the airport followed by regular screening, testing for athletes every day," he added.
The organisers did not specify whether the two infected athletes staying at the village will be quarantined elsewhere.
"Since 1 July more than 18,000 games participants arrived from overseas. All of them had at least 2 negative tests before arrival. When they arrived, they had another test. When they are here, there is a strict testing regime in place," said Pierre Ducrey, IOC Games Operations Director.
"The participants of the Olympic Games are the most controlled population in the world," he added.
The development comes a day after a non-athlete at the Village tested positive for the dreaded virus and was shifted out of the premises.
The first batch of Indian athletes for the Games left on Saturday and have arrived here this morning.
The 88-strong Indian delegation comprised, archers, the two hockey teams, table tennis players and swimmers among others.
The shooters and the boxers also landed from their respective training bases in Croatia and Italy this morning.
The Games will be held behind closed doors as infections soar in the Japanese capital, which has been recording more than 1,000 cases per day for the past few days.
Despite the scepticism, IOC President Thomas Bach has insisted that the Games pose "zero risk" for the residents of Olympic village and the Japanese people in general.
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6 Pak soldiers, 6 terrorists killed in gunfight in restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
Peshawar (PTI): Six soldiers, including an officer, and as many terrorists were killed in a gunfight in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military said on Saturday.
In a statement, the military's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the exchange of fire took place on the night between October 4-5 at Spinwam area in North Waziristan district, bordering Afghanistan, during which six soldiers, including a Lieutenant Colonel, and "six Khwarij" were killed.
During the "intense fire exchange", 43-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Ali Shoukat, who was leading the operation against the terrorists, was killed along with five other soldiers, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The TTP was set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007. Pakistan has officially declared TTP as ‘Fitna al-Khawarij’ and the notification by the Interior Ministry emphasises the use of the term ‘khariji’ (outlawed) along with the names of such terrorists.
The Pakistani government has repeatedly accused the TTP of operating from sanctuaries in Afghanistan, a claim denied by the Afghan Taliban.
There has been an uptick in the incidents of terrorism in Pakistan since the Taliban took over the government in Kabul in 2021, dashing hopes in Islamabad that a friendly government in Afghanistan would help to tackle militancy. Relations between the two countries have lately become strained, largely because of the TTP but also due to frequent border skirmishes.
