Olympics: Nigerian Official Hospitalised In Tokyo After Positive COVID-19 Test

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Tokyo Olympics: Team Nigeria’s First Batch Departs For JapanA 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.

Read Also: Tokyo Olympics: Team Nigeria’s First Batch Departs For Japan

Recall that MDB reported that the first batch, which was made up of two athletes, two coaches and six officials in the rowing and canoeing events, left Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on June 6.

Then, second batch of Team Nigeria’s contingent to 2020 Tokyo Olympics arrived in the early hours of Thursday for the team’s pre-Games training camp.

The team comprises 22 athletes (athletics, taekwondo and wrestling), including their coaches and 20 other officials.

The third batch, comprising badminton players, will leave the country on Saturday, while the final batch, which will also include Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, will depart Nigeria on June 19.

Team Nigeria will take part in nine sports at the Olympics, which starts on July 23.

Read Also: NCDC Confirms Deadly Delta COVID-19 Variant In Nigeria

Meanwhile, in its daily update, Tokyo 2020 confirmed that there had been four more positive cases among people who touched down in the Olympic and Paralympic host country on Thursday.

The three others are all contractors working on the Games, scheduled to begin on July 23.

Tokyo on Friday as at the time of filing this report, had recorded 1,271 new COVID-19 cases, marking the 27th day in a row where the tally was higher than the prior week.

It is also the third straight day where the total number of infections had topped 1,000.

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.

However, most curbs to limit its spread in the host city – where infections hit a six-month high on Tuesday – 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 Australian Olympic Committee said had tested positive prior to his departure for the Games.

USA Basketball said Washington Wizards star, Bradley Beal would also miss the Games after entering coronavirus protocols at a training camp in Las Vegas.

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