8 Japanese Karate Athletes Tested Positive For The Omicron Variant After Returning From The Asian Championships In Kazakhstan

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JAKARTA - The Japanese Karate Federation has confirmed that eight of its athletes have tested positive for the Omicron variant of COVID-19. The news was delivered by the federation on Thursday, December 30.

Quoted from Kyodo News on Friday, the Japan Karate Federation reported that the eight athletes were declared infected after returning from the recent Asian Championships in Kazakhstan.

The eight athletes were included in the 28-member Japanese team that took part in the December 18-22 tournament in Almaty, Kazakhstan. While there, they actually follow health protocols and tournaments with a bubble system to minimize transmission.

This positive case was initially identified after the athletes involved underwent PCR tests after returning to Japan on December 24. From these results, 11 members were found, of which 10 were athletes and one staff member who tested positive for the Coronavirus and eight of them were Omicron variants.

A day later, or on December 25, a follow-up examination was carried out and four new positive cases were found. However, the four findings did not indicate an Omicron variant.

In the latest case, two people had mild or no symptoms. This brings the total number of infected team members to 16.

Apart from the findings of the Omicron case, there were around 450 athletes including junior athletes from more than 20 countries and regions who took part in the Asian Championships.

Before it was discovered that the athletes had contracted Omicron after returning from Kazakhstan, the Secretary-General of the World Karate Federation, Toshihisa Nagura, had visited the competition location. At that time, he said that the steps to prevent the spread of the virus in the venue had been carried out thoroughly.