2 Athletes Test Positive for Covid-19 at Olympic Village

Two players on the South Africa soccer team have tested positive for the coronavirus inside the Olympic village.

On Sunday, the South African Olympic committee shared the news of the two confirmed cases, saying defender Thabiso Monyane and midfielder Kamohelo Mahlatsi have tested positive for COVID-19.

A video analyst has also tested positive, PEOPLE reported.

The trio has been moved to isolation at Tokyo’s 2020 isolation facility. As for the rest of the soccer team, the remaining have tested negative twice but remain quarantined “until cleared to train.”

The two players are the first athletes to test positive since entering the Olympic village.

“This unfortunate situation has made us miss our first intensive training session last night,” team manager Mxolisi Sibam said in a press release Sunday.

Neil Powell, a South Africa rugby seven coach, has become the fourth person to test positive. He’s currently isolated at a facility in Kagoshima; it is also the location where the team was conducting a pre-Games training camp and will miss the rugby sevens competition while isolating the next 14 days.

A spokesman for South Africa’s rugby team said Powell had received a vaccine shot on May 24.

Another non-Japanese athlete had also tested positive but was not staying inside the village. 11,000 athletes and thousands of support staff are expected to stay in the village throughout the Games.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said Thursday that there is apparently “zero” risk of athletes infecting Japanese residents with the coronavirus.

The Olympics will ban outside spectators from attending the Summer Games due to COVID-19. Tokyo declared a state of emergency in July as athletes prepared for their trek to the capital.

All Olympians are required to wear masks inside the village, even if they are vaccinated.