Just days before the official start of the Olympics in Paris, Covid-19 took its toll as five Australian water polo players from the women’s team got infected.
Australia’s chef de mission Anna Meares said Covid cases were limited to the water polo team, adding that the affected players were ready to return to practice when they felt well enough to train.
“We treat COVID no differently than any other respiratory disease, but we want to make sure our protocols work as well and dealing with and mitigating these diseases is a part of every Olympic Games,” he said on Wednesday.
” Protocols include wearing masks and staying apart from other team members outside of training. According to Meyers, the entire team has been tested.
Meanwhile, French Health Minister Frederic Valetaux told a FranceInfo broadcaster, as quoted by USA Today, “Of course, Covid is here. We have seen a small peak. “But we are a far cry from what we saw in 2020, 2021, 2022.”
Paris is the first Olympics, after the Tokyo Summer Games in 2021 and the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, to be held in a Covid bubble with rigorous testing protocols.
This time the Olympics will start from July 26 and will continue till August 11 and the opening ceremony will start on July 26.
Paris 2024 Olympics: Australian water polo player isolated after testing corona positive
