3 South Africa football team members test positive for COVID at Tokyo Olympic village

3 members from South Africa‘s football team for the Olympics
have tested positive for COVID-19 just days before the Tokyo Olympics are set
to begin. The individuals tested positive after arriving at the Tokyo Olympic
Village, the South African Football Association said.

The team left South Africa on July 13 and arrived in Tokyo
the following day and had reported negative results.

“We have three positive cases of COVID-19 in the camp
here, two players and an official,” CNN quoted a press release from team
manager Mxolisi Sibam.

Two of the three have been identified as Thabiso Monyane
and Kamohelo Mahlatsi, who are players in the team. The third person who tested
positive in the camp is video analyst Mario Masha. Monyane and Mahlatsi are the
first athletes to have tested positive in the village.

According to the association, Masha had tested positive on
Thursday and has since been in isolation. The two players tested positive on
Friday and Saturday. The whole South African team has gone into isolation.

The Olympic village had reported its first case of COVID-19 on
Saturday after an unidentified individual tested positive. The said person is not
believed to be an athlete.

Also read: Tokyo Olympics: List of tennis players who withdrew from the Summer Games

The Tokyo Olympics will finally begin on July 23 after being
postponed last year due to the pandemic. Even as the games begin, there is
widespread concern in the local public regarding the spread of COVID due to athletes
and officials of different countries coming to the city.

Japan witnessed a huge second wave that peaked in April and
May. During that time, the country saw close to 6,000 new cases of the virus
per day. Cases began falling in June but are on a rise in recent weeks,
sparking fears the arrival of teams from more than 200 countries could turn the
Games into a global super spreader event.