Organisers to tighten Covid rules after two cases

Two athletes tested positive for coronavirus in the competitors’ village yesterday leaving Paralympics organisers to consider ramping up restrictions and rules on the eve of tomorrow’s opening ceremony.

The names of the two athletes have not been revealed by the organising committee for the Games, but neither is understood to be British.

With Covid-19 cases rising in Japan, Hidemasa Nakamura, the delivery officer for Tokyo 2020, has stated that anti-virus measures put in place for the Olympics may have to be ramped up for the Paralympics.

Great Britain has a team of 228 competitors, with support staff taking the number to more than 500 in Tokyo. Mike Sharrock, chief executive of the British Paralympic Association, said: “For us, it is about the safety and well-being of the athletes. That is always our top priority. In this case, that is especially so.

“We are very clear at the BPA that in terms of the team our absolute priority is to get them there safely, create the environment where they can compete at their best, and then get them home again.”

Penny Briscoe, the chef de mission of Paralympics GB, said: “The 14-day run-in was obviously a really robust series of testing and with us being a Delta nation at that time there was even more testing expected of us.

“But we also took responsibility to limit exposure to environments that could be a risk.

“As a team, we also want to look out for ourselves and each other. There have been lots of innovative ways of having an additional sophisticated level of risk mitigation.”

However, with cases on the rise, it could mean increased testing frequency and greater restrictions on movement.

“We are looking to be stronger on behaviour management. We are under a state of emergency in Japan,” Nakamura said. During the

Olympics, there were restrictions on individuals for the first 14 days.

“For the Paralympic Games with the IPC and stakeholders, we will need to further discuss this before finalising,” Nakamura added. “It is not an ethical or moral-based rule, but it is a necessary measure to ensure safety.”

Meanwhile, plans are reportedly afoot to allow up to 140,000 schoolchildren to attend the Tokyo Paralympics despite the spread of the Delta variant among teenagers and those even younger who are not vaccinated.

Tokyo recorded a total of more than 5,000 cases for a third straight day yesterday. Nationally, Japan topped 25,000 for the second successive day, with a record 25,876 positive cases.