Japan Strengthens Health Control Following Delta Strain In Ugandan Olympians

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pledged Monday to strengthen health controls at airports after a Ugandan Olympic team member tested positive for COVID-19. The team member tested positive at the town hosting their training camp, sparking fears that the upcoming games will spread infections.

A Ugandan team member, reportedly a coach, tested positive Saturday at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport and was quarantined there. The rest of the nine-person team was allowed to travel more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) on a charter bus to the western prefecture of Osaka, where their pre-Olympics camp is.

Three days later, a second Ugandan tested positive for the virus, forcing seven town officials and drivers who had close contact with the team to self-isolate. The team members were quarantined at a local hotel. More concerns rose when it was announced that both Ugandans had the delta variant of the virus, which can spread more easily.

In response to criticism of the case, Suga rushed to Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport to inspect virus testing for arrivals. Suga vowed to ensure appropriate border control as more Olympic and Paralympic participants enter Japan ahead of the July 23 opening of the games.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said that Japan plans to step up its quarantine requirements for Olympic athletes and other participants from areas where the delta strain has been detected. These efforts will include requiring virus tests for seven days before departure to Japan, extended from the current four days, and increased to 14 days after entry and training in isolation in the first three days.

The Uganda case showed how easily Japan’s border health controls could be breached. “Apparently the border controls are not adequate, even though there has been plenty of time to work on them,” Tokyo Medical Association chairman Haruo Ozaki said Sunday on NHK public television.

Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura said the entire team should have been quarantined at Narita Airport.

Initially, government officials defended the current airport health controls for properly detecting and isolating the positive case. Officials said that contact tracing and isolation of those suspected of having had close contact was not their job but that of local health officials.

“No matter what measures you take, infected people would come in and it is unavoidable,” Japanese Olympic Committee President Yasuhiro Yamashita said at a news conference in Tokyo.

“Strict border control at airports is extremely important,” Yamashita said, urging the government to do more instead of pushing all the responsibility of contact tracing on local authorities.

Article by Allan Perez