Four Olympics athletes test positive ahead of Tokyo 2020 opening

Two more athletes have tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of the 2020 Olympic games set to start in Tokyo on Friday, bringing the infection tally among game contestants to four.

The Czech Republic team reported the latest case at the Olympic Village in Tokyo on Monday, after two South African men's soccer players had their Covid-19 cases announced on Sunday.

Beach volleyball player Ondrej Perusic's opening game with Latvia in seven days' time is now at risk.

Separately, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported that a female gymnast from the United States has also tested positive for the coronavirus in the city of Inzai, where she has been training. The name of the athlete, who is in her teens, has not been disclosed.

READ MORE: Tokyo Olympics: Fans banned from Games venues amid Covid emergency

Close contacts under extra scrutiny

Czech team leader Martin Doktor said in a statement they would ask to postpone the game until the infected player is cleared to play.

Perusic, who said he has been vaccinated, is the second member of the Czech delegation to test positive in Tokyo after a team official's case was reported on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the two South African players and a team video analyst who tested positive one day earlier were moved to the “isolation facility” managed by the Olympic organising committee.

Their 21 close contacts around the South Africa team now face extra scrutiny before their first game on Thursday against Japan in Tokyo. 

The monitoring regime includes daily testing, traveling in a dedicated vehicle, training separately from teammates not affected and being confined to their rooms for meals.

The conditions mean “although you are a close contact you are able to do the minimum that you need to do so that you can continue your preparation for the Games while you are being monitored,” Pierre Ducrey, the Olympic Games operations director, said on Monday.

Cases growing rapidly

Earlier on Monday, Tokyo Olympic organisers confirmed three new Covid-19 cases, including a media worker arriving in Tokyo and Games staffer or official in the Chiba prefecture.

The total of Games-related infections is now 58 since July 1.

These resulted from 22,000 people arriving in Japan since July 1 with 4,000 of those staying in the village, Ducrey said. Around 11,000 athletes are due to compete at the Tokyo Olympics through August 8.

The Tokyo metropolitan authority reported 727 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, which was the 30th straight day the tally was higher than one week earlier. The count was 502 last Monday.

The games open on Friday with no fans in nearly all event venues, including at the opening ceremony, amid a state of emergency in Tokyo, and a slower than hoped for vaccine rollout. Japanese authorities said on Monday 21.6 percent of the nation's 126 million population is fully vaccinated.