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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has sought to reassure Japanese people that the Tokyo Summer Games have been marked by a pandemic of coronavirus, announcing that most athletes will be vaccinated before the start of the sporting event in July.
IOC President Thomas Bach on Wednesday also offered to send additional staff to help with medical operations at the Tokyo Olympics and other sports venues.
With less than 10 weeks to go before the pandemics delayed the opening of the Games, much of Japan, including Tokyo and Osaka, is in a state of emergency virus and most Japanese want to postpone or cancel further events.
Bach himself was forced to cancel his visit to Tokyo this week due to virus restrictions, but heard a confident note at the video address at the start of a three-day meeting between the IOC and local organizers.
“The most important principle is very clear. The Olympic Village is a safe place and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will be held safely, ”he said.
“At the moment, 75% of those already living in the Olympics have been vaccinated or vaccinated ahead of the Olympics in time,” he said, adding that IOC officials “have good reasons to have that figure above 80 percent” by the start of the Games.
Organizers have outlined extensive anti-virus measures to keep the Games safe, including banning fans from abroad for the first time.
But as Japan is battling a fourth bout of infection, two medical associations have done so warn that in the last few days the health system is already overcrowded and the Games would increase the stress.
“We strongly urge the authorities to convince the IOC that it is difficult to hold the Olympics and to make a decision to cancel the Games,” the Tokyo Medical Association said in a open letter published online Monday.
“The virus is spread by people’s movements,” he said in the letter. “Japan will have a great responsibility if the Olympics and Paralympics work to worsen the pandemic by increasing the number of those who have to suffer and die.”
Overall, Japan has prevented the explosive spread of the virus to other nations, with 11,500 deaths since the pandemic began.
But the government has been sharply criticized for the slow spread of vaccines. Only 1-2 percent of Japan’s 126 million population is fully vaccinated, and it is unlikely that the elderly population will be completely inoculated before the Games begin.
Cabinet data this week showed that less than 40% of Japanese medical staff were fully integrated.
According to the Nikkei newspaper, the problem is particularly noticeable in the capital, Tokyo and other large population centers, where the rate of inoculated medical staff is less than 30 percent.
In an apparent offer to address the concerns, Bach said the IOC was ready to bring in more health workers.
He said support would come from various national Olympic committees, and that “medical operations and measures against COVID-19 will be strictly supported in the implementation of the Olympic Village and Olympic Games venues.”
The head of the COI also said that hundreds of sporting events were held safely during the pandemic, and mentioned that the latest tests in Tokyo took place without much trouble.
“None of these test events spread the virus to the people of Japan or the people of Tokyo,” he said.
The Olympics will open on July 23, and the Paralympics will continue on August 24. It is a financial obligation for the IOC, with about 75% of its revenue coming from the sale of television rights and another 18% with sponsorship.
Japan has officially spent $ 15.4 billion to officially host the Olympics, although government audits suggest that the figure is much higher.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said last week that it was possible to make the Olympics “safe and secure” if strict preventive measures were put in place.
Among them were those actions that would prevent ordinary Japanese from coming into contact with those associated with the Games.
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