Tokyo Olympics: We can defeat COVID-19, but only if everyone plays their part, says WHO DG Tedros

The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is in Tokyo and addressed the International Olympic Committee as athletes gear up for the Tokyo Olympics.

Taking to Twitter, he wrote: "Glad to be in #Japan to address the International @Olympics Committee. I've come with a simple but urgent message: we can defeat #COVID19, but only if everyone plays their part. May these #Tokyo2020 Olympics be a source of hope & unity to achieve #VaccinEquity & end the pandemic." Three days out from the opening ceremony of the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, the total Games-related Covid-19 infections have risen to 67. Organisers of the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday confirmed that a foreign athlete has tested positive for Covid-19 at the Games Village.

As per Kyodo News, eight more people related to the Tokyo Olympics have also tested positive for the coronavirus. Earlier on Monday, two Mexican baseball players tested positive for COVID-19 before departing for Tokyo, Mexican baseball authorities confirmed.

Earlier, a female gymnast from the United States tested positive for COVID-19 at her pre-Tokyo Olympic training camp. The athlete was training in the city of Inzai, Chiba Prefecture ahead of the opening of the Tokyo Olympics, as per Kyodo News. The name of the athlete has not been revealed as of now but it is being reported that the female gymnast is a teenager. Earlier on Monday, the Czech Republic's beach volleyball player Ondrej Perusic came out COVID-19 positive ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Ondrej is currently asymptomatic and is in isolation according to the rules.

On Sunday, eight members of Great Britain's Olympic team entered isolation after coming into contact with a COVID-19 positive person on their flight to the Tokyo Games.

The six athletes and two members of support staff had tested negative before departing for Tokyo and upon arrival, but now they have identified as a close contact of an infected person who was with them on the flight, reported Sky News.

However, the member who had tested positive for COVID-19 is not a member of Team Great Britain, clarified the British Olympic Association. Three members of South Africa's men's under-23 football team have also tested positive for COVID-19 and are currently in isolation in the Tokyo 2020 facility.

The three members to test positive for COVID-19 are -- Thabiso Monyane (player), Kamohelo Mahlatsi (player), and video analyst Mario Masha. These three returned positive results in the latest round of daily sputum (saliva) testing.

TV BRICS reports with reference to ANI.