Tokyo Olympics : Fresh doubts on Olympics as Tokyo crosses 10K cases in month for the first time

Tokyo Olympics – Fresh Troubles : Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic for the first time ever Tokyo has crossed 10,000 coronavirus cases in a month. It has raised fresh question marks over the staging of next summer’s delayed Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Olympics is scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 8, followed by the Paralympics from August 24 to September 5.

The bleak milestone underlines the severity of the situation in the Japanese capital as it grapples with a surge in cases – just seven months before it is due to stage the Games.

On Thursday (December 17), Tokyo reported a record 822 new cases in 24 hours as the city reached the fourth level of its COVID-19 alert system for the first time.

“Tokyo’s health care system is approaching capacity,” said Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike in an interview with Japan Times.

“Hospitals are clogged and could soon lose the ability to perform basic functions at a critical time of the year.”

Tokyo has recorded almost 51,500 cases, resulting in more than 500 deaths since the start of the global health crisis.

Japan’s daily count for cases exceeded 2,000 for the fifth successive day yesterday, and the country’s overall death toll stands at 2,893.

“The virus is spreading at an increasing pace,” said Norio Ohmagari, director of the Disease Control and Prevention Center during a meeting at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

“Stronger measures are necessary to prevent more people from becoming infected, and to prevent those infected from developing severe symptoms.”

IOC still confident that Olympic games in Tokyo will be held safely

The current situation across the world and especially Tokyo raises fresh concerns over Tokyo 2020, but officials including International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach have previously pledged to stage a safe Games next summer.

During his visit to Japan last month, Bach suggested the news of effective coronavirus vaccines made him “very confident that we can have spectators in the Olympics stadium next year and that spectators will enjoy a safe environment”.