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The Tokyo Paralympic Games organising committee on Saturday confirmed the first two cases of COVID-19 inside the Athletes’ Village. With the time quickly running up for the opening ceremony, the latest figures disclosed by the organising committee reveal a total of 15 new cases in the last 24 hours. However, the positive news is that no athlete has yet contracted the infection as both the positive cases from the village are among the staff. A total of 54 Indian athletes from across nine sporting disciplines are set to participate in the marquee sports event.
Notably, out of the 15 cases that were confirmed on Saturday, five are among the "Games Related Persons" which includes representatives of the International Paralympic Committee, the International Olympic Committee, National Olympic Committees and international federations. The 10 remaining cases have been reported from among the Paralympic Games contractors and their workers. The officials and others who tested positive have already been put in isolation.
As many as 101 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in connection with the Paralympic games
To date, as many as 101 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in connection with the Paralympic games since August 12. The Paralympic games will begin on August 24 and will continue till September 5. It is worth highlighting that the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Government of Japan have put in place detailed protocols to test, isolate as well as trace contact to avoid a COVID-19 outbreak among the 10,000 people expected to reach Tokyo for the Paralympic Games, including 4,400 athletes.
Screening of passengers starts from the airport itself
In fact, to stop the spread of the infection, screening of passengers starts from the airport itself. Earlier, the Tokyo Olympic Games that ended on August 8 had reported 167 cases in all from more than 63,000 tests conducted since July 1. While the organisation of the games has been a success overall, the country is still battling COVID-19 and has been struggling to secure hospital beds in the wake of a resurgence of infections. Japan recorded 25,876 new cases across the country on Friday with over 5,000 of them in Tokyo alone.