With five days to go before the Olympic opening ceremony, three members from South Africa’s Olympic football team have tested positive for Covid-19.
Orlando Pirates right-back Thabiso Monyane and Moroka Swallows’ attacking midfielder Kamohelo Mahlatsi are the first athletes to have tested positive in the village while video analyst Mario Masha has also tested positive.
The South African squad are staying in the Olympic village in the Harumi waterfront district. They entire squad is now in quarantine while they await the results of further tests. The team are scheduled to play hosts Japan in the Tokyo Stadium on Thursday.
“We have three positive cases of COVID-19 in the camp here, two players and an official,” team manager Mxolisi Sibam said. The whole team is now under quarantine “until cleared to train.”
Outside the Olympic Village a third athlete tested positive on Sunday. The names and nationalities of the positive cases were not made public.
The Olympic Village is equipped with testing and health centres. Athletes will be contact-traced and tested for the virus daily. Should anyone test positive, they will be taken to an isolation facility outside the Olympic Village and will not be able to compete.