The COVID-19 pandemic continued to hit the Italian national swimming team as another 10 new positive cases were reported this week. As a result, the team's preparations for the Tokyo Olympics were put on hold, and athletes were placed in quarantine.

World champion Simona Quadarella and Gabriele Detti were already on the positive test result list, confirmed the Italian Swimming Federation on Tuesday. The training camp is near the Swiss border in Livigno of the Lombardy region. As the number of local COVID-19 cases began to rise quickly again, a nightly curfew is about to take place from Thursday.

"It's a sign of the times. It's happening throughout Europe and worldwide," said Paolo Barelli, the president of the Italian and European Swimming Federations to the Associated Press. "It's very early. Better earlier than late. And it's not just us. I'm getting calls from all over Europe, hearing how bad it is."

Federica Pellegrini, who won the women's 200-meter freestyle Olympic gold medal in Sydney in 2008, tested positive for the coronavirus last week. With this week's newly reported cases, the Italian swimming team already has 13 positive cases. According to the federation, all of them were asymptomatic, and no staff members were infected. Nonetheless, Pellegrini said on Instagram that she had a fever and was lethargic.

Italy's official number of COVID-19 cases increased by 10,874 on Tuesday. Nightlife and socializing events were all restricted by the government to slow down the growth. The country's death toll of the coronavirus already reached 36,705, the second-highest in Europe, only after Britain.