430 Covid-19 cases in Tokyo Olympics since July 1

Tokyo, Aug 8 (EFE).- The authorities Sunday said 26 more people associated with the Tokyo Olympics have tested positive for the coronavirus, taking the overall caseload to 430 among the sporting event participants, including athletes, officials, and journalists.

Nineteen of the new confirmed positive cases are Japanese residents. There were no athletes among the fresh patients.

Official Kyodo news said that of the 26, 16 are contractors, five media persons, three volunteers, and an employee of the organizing committee.

No one among them was in the village that housed participants of the event that closed on Sunday.

The rate of infections in the village remained low thanks to the strict anti-infection protocols, including stringent restrictions on movements and constant testing since July 1, weeks before the Games began.

Such measures prevented the virus transmission between event participants and the local population, the hosts claim.

Of all the infections, 29 were athletes, and none among them suffered any serious illnesses.

The authorities have carried out more than 600,000 PCR tests among the tens of thousands of participants in the Games.

The tests yielded a 0.02 percent positivity rate, the data by the organizers showed.

On Friday, IOC President Thomas Bach hailed the “efficiency” of the event’s anti-Covid strategy.

He said the Olympic bubble was one of the most tested, vaccinated communities and was went through the strictest preventive measures.

The situation inside the Olympic zone is in sharp contrast with the rest of Japan.

Around 32 percent of the Japanese population has received anti-covid jabs.

Daily infections have risen past 15,000 during the past week in Japan, the highest-ever daily caseload for the country.

The Olympics host Tokyo, which is under a state of emergency, Sunday recorded 4,066 new Covid-19 cases, topping the 4,000-mark for the fifth day in a row.

The spike comes amid persistent concerns over the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant.

When the Olympics began on July 23, the capital reported fewer than 1,400 daily cases.

The surge has continued despite the health emergency in Tokyo and other regions.

Shigeru Omi, the principal adviser in the fight against the coronavirus, has admitted on many occasions that holding the Games had affected the “collective sentiment.”

Omi said it prompted the locals not to fully respect guidelines like staying at home and avoiding meetings with family and friends. EFE