The Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Tower are lit with Olympic colors to mark the 100-day countdown to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that have been postponed until 2021 due to the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Tokyo, Japan, April 14, 2021. REUTERS / Issei Kato
Japan’s inability to contain the COVID-19 pandemic means plans to hold the Tokyo Olympics should be reconsidered, health experts wrote in a comment.
The 2020 Games, which are already delayed by a year, will have to start in less than 100 days, although Japan is extending almost urgent measures to stop a fourth wave of infections. Read more
According to the commentary published Wednesday in the British Medical Journal, Japan has shown “low performance” in containing virus transmission, along with limited testing capacity and slow deployment of vaccination.
“Plans to hold the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer need to be reconsidered as a matter of urgency,” wrote lead author Kazuki Shimizu of the London School of Economics.
“Celebrating Tokyo 2020 for internal political and economic purposes (ignoring scientific and moral imperatives) is contradictory to Japan’s commitment to global health and human security.”
The comment adds to a flurry of doubts among medical professionals that the Olympics can be held safely this summer. A survey of more than 1,000 Japanese doctors showed last month that 75% believed it was best to postpone the Games, according to leading medical company Ishinotomo.
Kyoto University professor Hiroshi Nishiura, adviser on the government’s pandemic response, urged this week in a comment in the magazine that authorities postpone the Olympics for a year to allow more time to vaccinate the public.
Japan began its inoculation in February, later than most major economies. Only 0.9% of the Japanese public has received their first shot so far, compared to 2.5% in South Korea and 48% in the UK.
Olympic and government officials have stated that there is no doubt about the postponement of the Games.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Thursday that the government would do “everything possible” to prevent a new contagion before the Games, after a ruling party official said the cancellation of the event remained an option. . Read more
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