Virologist Hiroshi Oshitani warns Tokyo Olympics organizers of high COVID-19 risks

Top virologist Hiroshi Oshitani has warned the Tokyo Olympics organizers of high COVID-19 risk during the Games next month. Her statement comes after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japanese governments’ repeated assurances despite public outcry in the Asian nation.

Several Japanese cities including Tokyo Olympics hosts Tokyo are currently under a state of emergency which will go on until June 20. The Tokyo Olympics was originally scheduled for 2020 but postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oshitani, who is also a Tohoku University professor, is an architect of Japan's ‘Three Cs’ approach to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Three Cs’ approach is something that urges common citizens to avoid closed spaces, crowds and close-contact situations.

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According to Oshitani, although the organizers are going ahead with the Games, it is impossible to conduct the Tokyo Olympics with zero risk. He also stated that the countries coming to Japan might also take the infection to their country from the Tokyo Olympics.

“The government and the organising committee, including the IOC, keep saying they're holding a safe Olympics. But everybody knows there is a risk. It's 100 percent impossible to have an Olympics with zero risk...of the spread of infection in Japan and also in other countries after the Olympics,” Oshitani was quoted as saying to the Times of London.

“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,” Oshitani said. The Tokyo Olympics will start on July 23.

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Labour union writes to cancel Tokyo Olympics

So far, Japan has recorded 760,000 cases and more than 13,500 deaths, which is fewer than the COVID-19 stats of many other countries. However, several sections of Japanese society are against the nation hosting the Tokyo Olympics.

To add to the trouble surrounding the mega event, 10,000 volunteers have quit the Tokyo Olympics amid coronavirus fears. A labour union in the northern island of Hokkaido has submitted a petition to the governor urging for the Tokyo Olympics to be cancelled. Hokkaido is scheduled to hold the Tokyo Olympics marathon.