Japan’s top medical experts yesterday said that holding the Olympic Games during the COVID-19 pandemic could increase infections, adding that banning all spectators was the least risky option, setting up a possible collision with the organizers.
The report, led by the government’s main medical adviser Shigeru Omi, was released after the head of Tokyo 2020’s organizing committee told the Sankei Shimbun that she wanted to allow up to 10,000 spectators to attend the stadiums.
Japan is pushing ahead with hosting the Games, which are due to begin on July 23, despite worries about another surge in COVID-19 infections and strong public opposition, but organizers have banned overseas spectators.
Photo: Reuters
A final decision on domestic spectators is to be made at a meeting to be held as early as Monday among Tokyo 2020 organizers, the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, the Japanese government and the Tokyo Metropolitan government.
“I would like it to be held with spectators. I plan to head into the five-way meeting with that in mind,” the Sankei Shimbun quoted Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee president Seiko Hashimoto as saying in an interview published late on Thursday.
Speaking at the start of an experts meeting, Hashimoto said the advice from Omi would be discussed there and inform the talks.
In the report, Omi’s experts advised holding the Games without any spectators as the least risky option given the potential for another surge in COVID-19 infections.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s government on Thursday decided to ease emergency COVID-19 curbs in nine prefectures, including Tokyo, while keeping some “quasi-emergency” restrictions.
Omi agreed earlier this week that the number of spectators at domestic events could be raised to 10,000, but only in areas where “quasi-emergency” measures, including limiting restaurant hours, had been lifted.
Tokyo is scheduled to be under the lesser restrictions until July 11 after the state of emergency — the third since April last year — expires tomorrow.
The lifting of earlier emergencies was followed by fresh increases in infections and strains on hospitals.
Experts worry that would happen again as people start moving around more, especially since Japan’s vaccination rate is low, and say organizers must be prepared to act swiftly to ban spectators or declare another state of emergency if required.
The report by Omi also recommended that if spectators are allowed, restrictions should be tough, including limiting them to residents of the local area.
Omi, a former WHO official, has become increasingly outspoken about the risks of the Games spreading the virus.
Earlier this month, he told the Japanese parliament that it was “not normal” to hold the Games during a pandemic.
Hiroshi Nishiura, a Kyoto University professor and epidemiology adviser on the government’s pandemic response, who was a signatory to the Omi recommendations, said that he believed canceling the Games would be best, but that decision was for the government and organizers.
“If the epidemic situation worsened, no spectators and canceling the Games in the middle [of the event] should be debated,” Nishiura said.
The Japanese public remains concerned about the risks.
A survey by NHK public TV this month showed that 32 percent favored a cap on spectators, 29 percent wanted no spectators and 31 percent wanted the Games to be canceled.
Japan has not experienced the explosive outbreaks seen elsewhere, but a recent surge and an initially slow vaccination rollout has prompted concerns about strains on the medical system.
The nation has recorded 781,366 cases and 14,279 deaths, while just 15 percent of the population has received at least one vaccination.
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