Three more professional and one amateur boxers at a gym in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, were found to be suffering from the novel coronavirus or COVID-19, bringing the total number of people affected with the virus at the gym to nine, the Japan Boxing Commission said on July 22.

Earlier, several boxers at the gym had been found to be infected with COVID-19 and has been undergoing a close scrutiny.

According to the JBC, this time three pro boxers in their 30s and one amateur in his teen exhibited the symptoms associated with COVID-19, including taste and smell disorders and fever, through polymerase chain reaction tests held on July 21 and 22.

JBC Secretary General Tsuyoshi Yasukochi said, ‘’We in the boxing world feel responsibility as a cluster of infections has occurred. We will not only cooperate with public healthcare centers and administrative agencies but also will try to accurately grasp circumstances under which the cluster occurred. We will do everything we can to avoid a further deterioration of the situation. We are determined to do everything in this respect.

On July 22, Osaka Prefecture reported 121 new infections, a record daily increase.