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Updated July 15th, 2021 at 16:30 IST

Tokyo Olympics: COVID cluster discovered at hotel housing Brazil's Olympians, sparks scare

A COVID-19 cluster was discovered at the Japanese hotel housing dozens of Brazil's Olympic team members head of the highly-anticipated Tokyo Olympics

Reported by: Aanchal Nigam
Brazilian Olympians
IMAGE: Unsplash/AP | Image:self
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A COVID-19 cluster was discovered at the Japanese hotel housing dozens of Brazil's Olympic team members head of the highly-anticipated Tokyo Olympics. The cluster was flagged as Tokyo continues to record its highest number of COVID infections in six months. Just over a week before the opening ceremony of Tokyo Olympics 2020 is scheduled to take place on July 23, the surge in COVID cases in the host city has risked staging the world’s biggest sports event amid the pandemic without spectators.

As per reports, a city official has said that at least eight staff members at Hamamatsu city, southwest of Tokyo, tested positive for COVID-19. However, the 311-member Brazilian Olympic delegation including judo athletes, staying in the same hotel, are reportedly in a “bubble” and are separated from other guests. Hence, the sporters have not been infected with the coronavirus. 

Additionally, Russia’s RIA news agency reported from Moscow that country’s women’s rugby sevens team was also put under isolation after their masseur tested positive for COVID. The highly contagious virus variants have driven the surge of the latest infections coupled with the failure to vaccinate people in a rapid manner. Meanwhile, officials have imposed Olympic “bubbles” in a bid to keep out the COVID-19. But reportedly, the medical experts are worried that they might not be completely compact as the movement of staff servicing the Games can further create windows to spread coronavirus infection.

Japan declares fourth state of emergency in Tokyo

Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on July 8 made the decision to place Tokyo under the fourth state of emergency for the entire duration of the upcoming Tokyo Olympics 2020 to stem the drastic surge of COVID cases. 

The Tokyo Olympics have been already postponed once last year due to the unprecedented outbreak of coronavirus and are now set to take place from July 23. As per reports, Tokyo’s state of emergency will come into force from July 12 and will stay in place until August 22. 

The fourth such declaration in Tokyo would start 11 days before the Games are set to open and end only two days before the commencement of the Paralympics. “Taking into consideration the effect of coronavirus variants and the need to prevent infections from spreading to the rest of the nation again, we need to strengthen our countermeasures,” Suga reportedly said. “Given the situation, we will issue a state of emergency for Tokyo.”

IMAGE: Unsplash/AP

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Published July 15th, 2021 at 16:30 IST

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