There are 100 days to go until the Tokyo Olympics, postponed last year due to the pandemic from Covid-19, with the Japanese authorities forced to deal with an increase in infections that has led in recent days to a semi-lockdown in the metropolis that will host games.
“During this period, we will make our efforts to prevent the spread of infections and defeat the coronavirus, we would like to be able to organize the Games with everyone”, underlined Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. Tokyo reported 510 new infections on Tuesday while the western prefecture of Osaka reported a record 1,099 cases due to the rapid spread of new variants of the virus.
Speaking at a lower house meeting, Shigeru Omi, who chairs the government advisory committee on coronavirus, confirmed that “the fourth wave” of Covid infections is underway.
The launch of the vaccination campaign has been extremely slow since its inception in mid-February. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, only 0.4% of the population has been fully vaccinated.
In a video message, John Coates, chairman of the Tokyo 2020 coordination commission, however, reassured that the Olympics “will certainly be played starting on 23 July”, defining the Tokyo Games edition “the best organized ever”.