Top Japanese virologist warns of risks of Tokyo Games during
pandemic-paper
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[June 08, 2021]
By Rocky Swift and Sakura Murakami
TOKYO (Reuters) -A top Japanese
virologist and government adviser has said there was a risk of
spreading COVID-19 infections during the Tokyo Olympics, the Times
of London reported on Tuesday, the latest high-profile warning about
the global sporting showpiece.
Tohoku University professor Hitoshi Oshitani was an architect of
Japan's "Three Cs” approach to the pandemic, which advises avoiding
closed spaces, crowds and close contact situations.
“The government and the organising committee, including the IOC
(International Olympic Committee), keep saying they’re holding a
safe Olympics. But everybody knows there is a risk. It’s 100 per
cent impossible to have an Olympics with zero risk...of the spread
of infection in Japan and also in other countries after the
Olympics," the Times quoted Oshitani as telling the newspaper.
"There are a number of countries that do not have many cases, and a
number that don’t have any variants. We should not make the Olympics
(an occasion) to spread the virus to these countries," he added,
noting most countries lack vaccines.
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Already postponed from last year because of the pandemic, a
scaled-down version of the Games with no foreign spectators is set
to start on July 23 despite public fears the event could spread the
coronavirus and drain medical resources.
However, a former Olympian turned public health expert said she
believed the Games can be pulled off with an acceptable level of
risk.
"There will be cases, but having one case or a couple of cases
doesn't mean that it was a failure," Tara Kirk Sell, a professor at
the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told Reuters on
Tuesday.
PRAYING FOR PANDEMIC RELIEF
Playbooks from event organisers detailing testing regimes and
movement restrictions for athletes and other visitors "outline a
good strategy" for minimising contagion, Sell added.
Media arriving from abroad to cover the Games will be closely
monitored to ensure they don't leave pre-registered areas such as
hotels and sports venues, Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto said.
She also said Japan's Olympics-related staff were expected to start
getting vaccinated in mid-June.
"... we are still in a very difficult situation, but we have seen a
gradual decrease of infections in Tokyo, and I am praying that the
pandemic is brought under control as swiftly as possible," Hashimoto
said at the start of a Tokyo 2020 board meeting.
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![](../images/060821PICS/top%20japanese_small.jpg)
The emblems of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic
and Paralympic Games are displayed during an unveiling event of the
items that will be used for the victory ceremonies, at Ariake Arena
in Tokyo, Japan June 3, 2021. REUTERS/Issei Kato/Pool
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Japan has been spared the explosive
outbreaks seen elsewhere but has recorded over 760,000 cases and
more than 13,600 deaths. Tokyo and other regions are under a state
of emergency as the nation battles a fourth wave which is straining
hospitals.
The government's top medical adviser, Shigeru Omi, said last week
medical experts planned a statement on the Games by June 20, when
the state of emergency is set to be lifted.
A labour union in the northern island of Hokkaido, where the Olympic
marathon will be held, petitioned its governor on Monday calling for
the Games to be cancelled, media said.
Japanese Olympic Committee board member Kaori Yamaguchi, a judo
bronze medallist at the 1988 Games, said on Friday Japan had been
"cornered" into pressing ahead with the Games.
Japan's public remains divided about holding the Games, although
opposition appears to be easing somewhat. A poll by broadcaster TBS
this week showed 55% wanted the Games either postponed or cancelled
- down 10 points from last month.
Sell, a silver medallist swimmer at the 2004 Games in Athens, said
accelerating vaccinations and ebbing case numbers in Japan are
positive signs the Olympics can go on, but noted the risks involved
in any type of international travel.
"These Games are very much a symbol of the whole world emerging from
this terrible, global pandemic," she said.
"If we wanted to be as safe as possible, we'd never leave our
house."
(Reporting by Linda Sieg, Rocky Swift and Sakura Murakami; Writing
by Linda Sieg; Editing by Lincoln Feast & Shri Navaratnam)
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