36 persons, including 24 athletes, test COVID positive in SAI Bhopal; none Olympic bound

New Delhi, April 7: As many as 24 sportspersons and 12 support staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus at the Sports Authority of India's (SAI) Bhopal centre but none of the athletes are Olympics-bound.

According to SAI, the positive cases came to light during two rounds of precautionary tests on April 3 and 6. The SAI Bhopal Center doesn't house any Olympic probable.

"In the two rounds of testing, a total of 36 people have tested positive for Covid, out of whom 24 are athletes, and the other 12 who are staff of NCOE (National Centre of Excellence)," a SAI official told PTI when enquired about the tests.

"None of the athletes who have tested positive are Olympic-bound. Some of the athletes who tested positive had returned from wushu and judo competitions."

In order to contain the spread of the virus, the athletes, who have tested positive, have been shifted to a hospital as a precautionary measure. "None of the athletes are critical."

The SAI had further instructed all the NCOEs to strictly follow its existing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) with stress on conducting regular precautionary tests.

On March 31, 30 sportspersons and support staff across disciplines were found to be COVID-19 positive after 741 precautionary tests were conducted at the National Centres of Excellence in Patiala and Bengaluru.

However, the positive results in both the centres did not include any Tokyo Olympic-bound athlete.