Alex Peebles Reporter

Olympic team member tests positive for COVID in Japan as country confirms 10k fans allowed

Jun 21, 2021

Alex Peebles Reporter

By Alex Peebles (Reporter), Ben Burke (Producer)

A member of the Ugandan Olympic team tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend. This is the first infection to be detected as an Olympic team was arriving to Japan.

The team member, who has not been named, was barred entry into the country. The rest of the team took a charter bus from the airport heading for Osaka early Sunday.

The whole team had been fully vaccinated and had negative PCR tests before boarding.

The positive test comes just before the head of the International Olympic Committee discussed the vaccination rate at the Olympic Village early Monday.

“I can give you some good news, there also from our side, that concerns the vaccination rate with regards to the participants,” IOC President Thomas Bach said. “So for the residence of the Olympic villages, it will be well above 80% so we have had our expectations in a confident way that we will get to 80% but today I can tell you it will be above 80% in the Olympic villages.”

The village will do a soft opening July 7, and officially open July 13.

Also on Monday, organizers confirmed they will allow some local fans to attend the games. Each Olympic venue will be at 50 percent capacity or 10,000 fans, whichever is smaller.

Organizers say between 3.6-3.7 million tickets are in the hands of Japanese residents.

The Tokyo Games are set to open on July 23.

Gwen Baumgardner: A YEAR DELAY MAY NOT BE ENOUGH TO KEEP THE TOKYO OLYMPICS COVID-FREE.
ALREADY, A COACH FLYING INTO JAPAN TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID…AHEAD OF NEXT MONTH’S GAMES.
THIS VIDEO FROM OVER THE WEEKEND SHOWS THE UGANDAN NATIONAL TEAM ARRIVING IN JAPAN.
ONE OF THEIR COACHES RECEIVED A POSITIVE COVID TEST WHEN THE TEAM ARRIVED. IT’S UNCLEAR WHETHER THE COACH WILL BE SENT HOME.
A SPOKESMAN FOR THE UGANDAN TEAM, SAYS ALL COACHES AND ATHLETES HAVE BEEN FULLY VACCINATED.
THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE PRESIDENT SAYS THEY EXPECT A HIGH VACCINATION RATE FROM ALL COUNTRIES AT OLYMPIC VILLAGE.
Thomas Bach: “So we have had our expectations in a confident way that we will get to 80% but today I can tell you it will be above 80% in the Olympic villages.”
Gwen Baumgardner: THE OLYMPIC VILLAGE OFFICIALLY OPENS JULY 13TH.
MEANWHILE — ORGANIZERS CONFIRMED ALL OLYMPIC VENUES WILL HAVE UP TO 10-THOUSAND FANS.