Olympics organizers revoked the accreditation of at least one person related to the games for leaving the athletes’ village to go sightseeing while COVID-19 is raging through Tokyo.
The host city announced a record 4,058 COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours on Saturday, mostly driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant of the disease, Reuters reported. It was the first time the number topped 4,000.
Olympics officials said 21 new cases were related to the Games, The Associated Press reported, none of whom were athletes. So far, 241 people related to the Olympics, including 23 athletes, have tested positive since July 1.
The organizers did not disclose how many people had their accreditation revoked, if athletes were involved or when the violation happened.
The record numbers or reported cases in Tokyo were mirrored by new highs in Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, neighboring the city. On Friday, Japan extended its state of emergency for Tokyo to the end of August, and expanded it to the three nearby prefectures, along with the western prefecture of Osaka, where infections are also spiking.
Japan has had more than 15,000 deaths related to COVID-19 according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.