Holding Tokyo Olympics in 2021 'difficult', Japan medical association chief warns - MW

The head of the Japan Medical Association (JMA) has added his voice to the speculation that the Tokyo Olympics, which will now be held next summer, may once again be delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. .

Unless an effective vaccine is developed I think it will be difficult to host the Olympics next year, JMA president Yoshitake Yokokura told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday. At this point, I'm not saying they should be organized. The outbreak is not limited to Japan ... it is a global problem.

Some health experts have been skeptical of the Olympics' plans for July and August. Last week, Kentaro Iwata, an expert in infectious diseases, said he thought it was impossible. The game will be held only after more than a year from now.

To be honest with you, I don't think the Olympics are likely to be held next year, '' said Cameron Iwata, a professor at Kobe University. Olympic Games need two conditions; one, controlling Covid-19 in Japan and controlling Covid-19 everywhere.

I am very pessimistic about hosting the Olympics next summer unless you host the Olympics in a completely different structure like no audience, or very limited participation.

Japanese organizers and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) agreed in March to postpone the Olympics for a year when the coronavirus spread globally. Since then, they have said there is no plan for Baptism, other than working for the Olympics, which opens on July 23, 2021.

But John Coates, a member of the IOC, who is overseeing the preparations for the Tokyo Olympics, said this month it was still too early to say if the outbreak could affect the Olympics. Coates said the IOC believes they have given themselves as much time as possible, but he admits that the situation is still unpredictable. There may still be a problem with the number of people gathered and those things, tested on athletes, he said. The sooner it is too soon to tell.

Japan has so far avoided a catastrophic coronavirus outbreak seen in the US and several European countries, with about 13,600 cases and 394 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health. These figures do not include infections and deaths related to the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was isolated in the city of Yokohama, near Tokyo, in February.

On Monday, Tokyo witnessed the number of daily confirmed cases drop below 100 for two consecutive days, with 72 cases reported on Sunday and 39 on Monday, public broadcaster NHK. said. The number of reported cases on weekends and on Monday tends to be lower because some test facilities are not open throughout the week. Tokyo has reported nearly 4,000 cases, by far the highest number of all 47 prefectures in Japan.

We have actually seen a drop in new cases, including here in Tokyo, Mr. Yok Yokura said during an online short meeting at Japan's Foreign Correspondents Club. I want to think this is a real decline, but we are still facing a situation in Japan where the number of tests is not enough. So I think we need to wait a week or so to see how things are going.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and six other areas in early April, has since been expanded to cover the entire country. Local governors may require people at home and unimportant businesses to close, but there are no fines or other penalties for non-compliance.

MW