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A member of Uganda's Olympic team tested positive for COVID-19 in Japan after being vaccinated and testing negative before travel

Sarah Al-Arshani   

A member of Uganda's Olympic team tested positive for COVID-19 in Japan after being vaccinated and testing negative before travel
  • An Olympian tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Japan, The Washington Post reported.
  • The member of Uganda's team had received AstraZeneca's vaccine and tested negative before traveling.
  • It's the first case amongst Olympians arriving in Japan.

A member of Uganda's Olympic team tested positive for COVID-19 in Japan after getting AstraZeneca's vaccine and testing negative at home, The Washington Post reported.

It's the first detection of the virus in incoming athletes five weeks ahead of the games.

The member who tested positive was denied entry into the country and was instead sent to a government-run facility while the rest of the team was able to head to Osaka.

Japan is waiving the required two-week quarantine for international travelers for many Olympic teams but athletes will need to be tested daily for the virus.

While vaccines are not 100% effective at stopping infection, the number of people who are fully vaccinated that have tested positive has raised some alarm especially as mutations like the Delta variant that originated in India spread.

Many Japanese residents have protested the hosting of the games as COVID-19 spreads in the country. More than 429,000 people have signed a Change.org petition asking the Japanese government to cancel the Games.

Over 70% of the country thinks the Olympics should either be postponed or canceled entirely, according to a Kyodo News poll.

Japan recently lifted its state of emergency, which put limits on gatherings, and restrictions on restaurants and stores in most areas. The country has only fully vaccinated 6.4% of its population, according to data from Bloomberg.

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