The 14-year-old boy arrived last Thursday with his teammates and developed symptoms on Friday afternoon, organisers said at a press conference at Swissotel the Stamford, the Games Village where the athletes and officials are housed.

He was found to have a fever during routine temperature taking. He sought medical attention at the village's medical centre and was placed in an isolation room. Laboratory results confirmed his infection on Saturday, and he was admitted to the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC). His condition is stable.

Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan said the discovery of the H1N1 case was in a sense 'an anticipated event' and showed that robust contingency measures were working.

He added: 'We're fortunate that we've been able to detect it early, been able to take appropriate action to treat the boy, to identify close contacts, to take adequate precautions for them.' He said that the AYG would continue, and there were no delays for now.

About 1,400 athletes and several hundred officials from 45 countries are expected for the AYG, which starts on June 29 and ends on July 7. It is a test event for next year's Youth Olympic Games.

As to whether the AYG could be postponed if more H1N1 cases surface when the main contingents start arriving later this week, Dr Balakrishnan said this would be sorted out in the coming days.

While the AYG football competition kicked off on Saturday ahead of the June 29 opening ceremony as scheduled, all Group A matches involving the Philippine team have been postponed.

Close contacts of the infected teen - his 17 teammates and two coaches - will be quarantined at the Aloha Loyang Resort for six days. Three buses ferrying the young footballers were seen arriving at the centre on Saturday evening.

The quarantine is in accordance with the AYG's H1N1 contingency plans that were announced on the same day the Filipinos arrived.

Read the full report in Sunday's edition of the Straits Times

limze@sph.com.sg

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