Tokyo Olympics: Games-related COVID cases go past 100

The Tokyo Olympics got underway from Friday. However, the health safety of the participants continues to be a concern with the rising COVID cases. Until Friday, the Games-related cases went past 100, with 19 new cases being reported by the organisers.

The global sporting extravaganza, the Tokyo Olympics 2020, is officially underway from Friday. The Games is being held despite concerns surrounding the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, COVID cases have already emerged in connection to the Games. On Friday, 19 new cases were reported by the organisers, with the total cases going past 100.

According to a PTI report, the Czech Republic team is the worst affected side, with four athletes being involved, while overall, it has six cases. Road cyclist Michal Schlegel is the latest to be infected from the contingent. The total cases toll stands at 106 until Friday night, while 11 of them happen to be athletes.

"The fourth athlete and the sixth Czech member of the team, who did not avoid a positive test for COVID-19 at the Tokyo Olympics, is road cyclist Michal Schlegel. His positive antigen test was also confirmed by PCR analysis in a cycling village in Izu. Now Schlegel is back in the hotel for road cyclists in isolation," Czech's National Olympic Committee stated in a statement.

"Other road cycling representatives Tereza Neumanova and Michael Kukrle also went to Tokyo for testing. Zdenek Stybar stayed in the cycling hotel, as he was not on board a charter flight from Prague and arrived in Japan two days later," the statement added.

Consequently, Schlegel has been ruled out of his Olympic stint. Among the other Czechs, team doctor Vlastimil Voracek had tested positive, while a beach volleyball coach also tested positive inside the Village.

As for other delegations, Fernanda Aguirre (Taekwondo player from Chile), Candy Jacobs (Skateboarder from the Netherlands) and Reshmie Oogink (Taekwondoplayer from the Netherlands) too had tested positive and were forced to withdraw from their respective events. Earlier, a couple of South African footballers, along with an American beach volleyball player, had tested positive upon arrival. At the same time, some athletes did not even make it to Tokyo after testing positive before flying out from their home nation.

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