A member of the Ugandan Olympic team tested positive for the coronavirus upon arrival in Japan and was denied entry to the country, in the first known case of COVID-19 among teams traveling from overseas for the Tokyo Games, government officials said Sunday.
The team member, who tested positive after arriving at Narita airport outside Tokyo on Saturday evening, was part of a nine-member group of Ugandan athletes competing in boxing, weightlifting and swimming, and coaches. The eight other members traveled by bus to their host town of Izumisano in the western Japanese prefecture of Osaka on Sunday.
The Ugandans are the second group of athletes to arrive in Japan for the Tokyo Games following the Australian women's softball team, which arrived in Japan for a pre-Olympic camp on June 1.
The unidentified team member had received two doses of the vaccine developed by Britain's AstraZeneca Plc and submitted a negative test result issued within 72 hours of departure.
A representative of the host town said all members of the Uganda delegation are fully vaccinated.
"We will ask the eight members to refrain from training for some time, require daily testing and ensure strict infection prevention and control practices so that we can send them off to the games safely," said Hiroyasu Chiyomatsu, the mayor of Izumisano.
Meanwhile Takashi Nishi, the president of the hotel where the team is staying, said the hosts will "brace themselves" and do their best to support the East African nation's delegation.
Team members got off the bus carrying their national flag, waved to reporters and made themselves available for a photo opportunity.
The team members, whose arrival was delayed by three days due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in Uganda, are scheduled to train in facilities in Izumisano and nearby Kishiwada until July 19 as they gear up for the pandemic-delayed Olympics, due to open on July 23.
Also on Sunday, 14 members of the Danish national rowing team arrived at Haneda airport, becoming the third group of foreign Olympians to land in Japan. The team will head to their host town of Ogata in Akita Prefecture and remain there until July 18.
Team members will undergo PCR tests every day and will have restrictions on their movement.
Later this month, the national table tennis team from Singapore is scheduled to land in Japan and set up camp at Shimada in Shizuoka Prefecture starting June 27.
