One week before the start of the Tokyo Olympics, the news is hardly reassuring.
The organizers announced this Saturday a first case of Covid-19, identified in the Olympic village.
An announcement that did not prevent them from supporting the effectiveness of the drastic measures used to curb any transmission of the virus.
"This is the very first case recorded in the village, and which was detected on arrival," said Takaya Masa, spokesperson for the Organizing Committee (TOCOG), at a press conference, without specifying. it is an athlete or a member of the management, nor from which delegation the person comes.
According to the Japanese press, it would be a foreign person, without further clarification there either.
The Tokyo Olympics, scheduled for July 23 to August 8, have been postponed for a year due to the pandemic, and strict health measures have been put in place in Japan so that the planetary meeting can be held.
A test "every day" for athletes
“This person has tested positive at the Village screening, we don't know if they are vaccinated or not,” said Tokyo-2020 General Manager Toshiro Muto.
"In the village, there will be severe anti-Covid measures: athletes will be tested every day, and if an athlete tests positive, he will be isolated," he explained, wanting to be reassuring .
“We are confident that every effort will be made to ensure security at the Olympic Village.
What is important is to react immediately and to ensure that all athletes are protected and safe, ”he added.
Less than a week before the opening ceremony of the Olympics on Friday, the Japanese capital does not have the heart to celebrate this countdown, while local cases of Covid-19 continue to climb and the state emergency was put in place last Monday and until August 22.
Read also Covid-19: no spectators in Tokyo for the Olympics, how the fear became reality
Almost all of the Olympic events will take place behind closed doors.
Likewise, the tens of thousands of participants - from athletes to officials, including journalists from abroad - are subject to drastic restrictions due to health risks.
“We are doing everything we can to prevent any further development of Covid-19.
If we eventually find that there is contamination, we have a plan to respond to it, ”for her part assured Seiko Hashimoto, the president of the organizing committee.
“Athletes who come to Japan are probably very worried.
This is the reason why we must be completely transparent, ”she promised.
These "countermeasures" are not enough to reassure the population in Japan, while Tokyo has recorded nearly 1,300 additional cases of coronavirus daily in recent days.
The president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, however assured Thursday that the anti-Covid measures at the Olympics were working, and that the delegations followed and supported these rules.