“At least 40 athletes” participating in the Paris 2024 Olympics have tested positive for Covid. This was reported by epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove, who leads the World Health Organization (WHO) Preparedness and Prevention against Epidemics and Pandemics. “It is not surprising to see infected athletes, because the virus circulates quite quickly in other countries,” the expert said during a press conference in Geneva, according to the French sports newspaper ‘L’Équipe’, among other newspapers.
“In recent months, many countries have experienced outbreaks of Covid, including at the Olympics at least 40 athletes have tested positive,” Van Kerkhove said, also stressing that the Olympic Committee, together with the WHO, has “examined all the different approaches that need to be put in place” during crowded events such as the Games, and has taken “the right steps”. The fact remains that the Sars-CoV-2 virus is “still very present” in the world. Data collected by the WHO thanks to the surveillance system in 84 countries show that the percentage of positive tests has increased in recent weeks, which “has led to an increase in the number of hospitalizations and deaths in several countries”.
“Globally the rate of positive tests is above 10%, but this share varies from one region to another”, with a rate for example above 20% in Europe, the epidemiologist added, also specifying that the monitoring of wastewater suggests that the circulation of the virus could be “from 2 to 20 times higher than currently reported”.
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