Japan Olympic Committee’s deputy chief tests positive for coronavirus

The deputy head of Japan’s Olympic Committee has tested positive for coronavirus, he revealed today. 

Kozo Tashima announced he had a ‘mild fever’ and a ‘symptom of pneumonia’ but was feeling ‘fine’ and would ‘concentrate on treatment’. 

Tashima had recently returned from a nine-day business trip in which he travelled to Northern Ireland, Holland and the United States – saying ‘everyone was still doing hugs and handshakes’ at the time. 

The news comes amid growing doubts over whether the Tokyo 2020 Games can go ahead at all because of the growing pandemic.   

‘Today, my test result showed positive for the new coronavirus,’ Tashima said in a statement, issued via the Japan Football Association which he also heads.

‘I have a mild fever. Examinations showed a symptom of pneumonia, but I’m fine. I will concentrate on treatment following doctors’ advice,’ he said. 

Tashima said he had been on a business trip since February 28, first heading to Belfast to attend a meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB).

From March 2, he visited Amsterdam for a UEFA meeting to give a presentation on Japan’s bid for the 2023 women’s World Cup.

And on March 3, he attended a general meeting of the same body.

‘In Amsterdam and in Europe in early March, the level of nervousness against the novel coronavirus was not the same as now,’ he said in the statement.

‘Everyone was still doing hugs, handshakes and bises (cheek kissing).’

He then travelled to the United States to watch the Japanese women’s team in action and to lobby for the women’s World Cup, before returning home on March 8.

‘In the United States, too, the sense of crisis about the novel coronavirus was not as serious as now,’ he said.

Staff at the Japan FA have been working from home as a precaution against the virus, but Tashima said he went to the association building several times last week and attended meetings.

He began feeling chills and experienced a mild fever from Sunday. He went to a local public health centre on Monday and told them about his travel history.

Snow falls on the Olympic rings on Saturday near the new National Stadium in Tokyo where the opening ceremony of the Games is meant to take place in July 

During the UEFA gatherings, Tashima said he saw Swiss and Serbian football chiefs, who have tested positive for the virus, although he added it was not clear how he contracted the infection.

His positive test came out on Tuesday.

‘I have chosen to face the illness as so many people are doing in Japan and around the world,’ he said, adding that he hoped his decision would help eradicate the stigma attached to the infection. 

Japanese officials are insistent that the Olympics will go ahead as planned with an opening ceremony on July 24. 

International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach also wants to go ahead but says the body will follow WHO guidelines. 

The Tokyo 2020 organising committee has already been forced to scale down festivities related to the Olympic torch relay to prevent further spread of the virus.

The flame, which has already been lit in Greece, will arrive in northern Japan on Friday, with the torch relay slated to start on March 26 from Fukushima. 

There have also reportedly been discussions about staging the Games in front of empty stadiums.  

Most major sporting events have been called off because of the virus, including football’s Premier League, golf’s Masters and motor racing’s Formula One season.