Japan’s covid-19 cases rise at the World Athletics Championships

The World Athletics Championships taking place at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, continue to see covid-19 cases rising with more athletes forced to withdraw from the tournament.

On Monday, the eleventh member of the Japanese team tested positive, Hitomi Niiya, and had to pull out of today’s women’s marathon. According to the Japan Association of Athletics Federations, Niiya was obliged to withdraw from the event after notifying officials that she had a fever.

World Athletics announced Saturday that two of Japan’s six athletes entered in the marathon tested positive, in addition to their head coach and four members of their staff. Women’s marathon runner Mao Ichiyama missed the race, leaving the team represented alone by Mizuki Matsuda, who finished ninth in 2 hours 23min 49sec. National record-holder Kengo Suzuki also missed yesterday’s men’s marathon event.

What happens when players have covid at the world champs?

Players or individuals who test positive while at the World Championships are moved into isolation for about a minimum of five days, until they test negative.

World Athletics, the Japan Association of Athletics Federations and local organizers issued out a joint statement assuring “steps are being taken to prevent the spread of covid-19 both within the Japanese delegation as well as amongst all the teams present for the Championships. All athletes have been fully vaccinated as a requirement for participation in these Championships.”

As a precaution, the rest of the Japanese delegation members are being obliged not to share common spaces with other delegations.

World athletics Championships rocked by covid-19 cases

On another note, things aren’t looking so good in Oregon. It seems that 21 of Oregon’s 36 counties are deemed to be at “high” risk of the virus, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Japanese athletes are not the only ones who have had to withdraw from events at the world champs. On Saturday, July 16, British high jumper Morgan Lake announced she had been forced to withdraw from the World Championships after testing positive for covid-19, even though she had spent five days in isolation without showing any symptoms.

“There’s bad timing and there’s being exposed to Covid on the week of world champs,” Lake wrote on Twitter.

“Absolutely heartbroken to have to watch from my hotel room and whilst I’m grateful to be feeling 100% fine, it’s even more frustrating to know that I am physically ready to compete but can’t.”

So far, these are the only athletes we know were affected by covid-19.