A MEMBER of Uganda’s Olympic team has tested positive for the coronavirus and was barred entry into Japan, in the first detected infection among arriving athletes for the Tokyo Games opening in five weeks.

The eight other members of the team left early yesterday by chartered bus for host town Osaka, central Japan, where COVID-19 cases are still being reported.

Yasutoshi Nishimura, a minister in charge of economic policy, said on NHK TV yesterday that the government was looking into what had happened with border controls.

The athletes, arriving late Saturday at Tokyo’s Narita airport, were all fully vaccinated with the AstraZeneca jabs and had negative PCR tests before boarding, the Asahi newspaper reported, quoting an anonymous Cabinet Secretariat official.

Meanwhile, organizers of the Tokyo Olympics opened the athletes’ village to the media yesterday. Athletes will be shuttled in and out of the village and be tested for the coronavirus every day.

The shopping area of the village features an automatic teller machine, dry cleaner, post office, bank and courier counter. The 2.4 billion yen (US$21.8 million) shopping area was made from 40,000 pieces of timber donated by 63 Japanese municipal governments.

Organizers were originally planning to feed residents of the village in vast dining halls — the largest with a capacity to seat 4,500 people.

But now, organizers will ask athletes to dine alone, maintain social distancing with others, and wipe down surfaces after eating to curb the spread of the virus.(SD-Agencies)