Kathmandu, Nepal, August 25, 2021: One of South Asia’s most popular athletes, Nepali swimmer Gaurika Singh, has tested positive for Covid-19.
In a Facebook post dated August 24, the 18-year-old freestyle and backstroke specialist informed her 465,000 followers of the news.
“Namaste (Hi) everybody,” she says.
“I just wanted to let everyone know that I recently tested positive with Covid-19, despite being double vaccinated and asymptomatic, after coming into contact with someone who had the virus.
“I am now in isolation for 10 days - as required by the Government here.
“It is important that, as a community, we should try and prevent the spread of the virus by doing regular lateral flow tests and wearing masks because I wouldn’t have known I was positive had I not taken a PCR test as I was asymptomatic.
“Please, everyone stay safe and thank you for all the lovely messages that I have already received.”
Gaurika was the youngest athlete at Rio 2016 and also competed at Tokyo 2020. She won four gold medals at the South Asian Games in Nepal in 2019.