Photo/Illutration Members of the Ugandan Olympic delegation train in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, on July 7. (Tatsuo Kanai)

IZUMISANO, Osaka Prefecture---An athlete on Uganda’s Olympic team has gone missing here, where the team has been staying for a training camp, city officials said on July 16.

One of the nine Ugandan delegation members, a 20-year-old male, has been unaccounted for since about 12:30 a.m. on July 16, the last time his team members reported seeing him inside the hotel where they are staying, the officials said.

Officials have reported the case to the prefectural police, and a city-wide search is under way.

A little after 12 p.m., officials noted the athlete hadn’t taken a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. They then checked the athlete’s room, but he was not there.

The delegation arrived at Narita International Airport on June 19, where a coach on the team tested positive and was quarantined at a designated facility.

But the rest of the team was let go and traveled by charter bus to Izumisano where they checked into a hotel in the city. They were later deemed to have been exposed to the virus.

On June 23, an athlete on the team in their 20s tested positive for the novel coronavirus, following which the rest of team self-isolated in their hotel. All of them started training on July 7.

Several city officials as well as the charter bus driver were also deemed to have been in close contact with people who had the virus.

The incidents have raised serious questions over the effectiveness of the Olympic “bubble” and the organizers’ repeated assurance that the Games would be “safe and secure.”

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