SAN FRANCISCO, January 01, (THEWILL) – The world is not half a day into the new year yet and the postponed Tokyo Olympic games are already facing renewed threats from the Coronavirus. The Japanese government has reportedly suspended entry conditions for athletes and team officials travelling from countries that have reported cases of the new variant of Coronavirus.
Local reports monitored by THEWILL revealed that Japanese athletes and those with residency in the country will be mandated to quarantine for 14 days if arriving from countries including Britain, France, Italy and South Africa.
This new enforced halting of the entry condition will be in place until at least the end of January from what local media reported.
As a consequence of concerns over the new variant, which is thought to be 70 per cent more transmissible than other strains, foreign nationals, including athletes, have been banned from entering Japan before the end of next month under a measure imposed by the government.
In recent weeks, fears over the spread of Coronavirus have heightened in Tokyo. On Thursday, the Japanese capital reported more than 1,000 daily COVID-19 cases for the first time since record-taking began. There were 1,337 new cases in the Olympic and Paralympic host city. On a nationwide level, the number of infections has also exceeded 4,000 for the first time.
The spread of this new variant will doubtlessly increase concern over whether the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games can go ahead in the event’s rescheduled slot in 2021 after having been postponed at an expensive cost to the organisers.
The official cost of the postponement increased by 22 per cent, the Local Organising Committee said in unveiling its new budget last week. In an online news conference, organizers said the Olympics will cost $15.4 billion to stage in its new schedule. This is up from $12.6 billion in last year’s budget.
The added $2.8 billion is the cost of the one-year delay. Expenses came from renegotiating contracts and health and safety measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Organisers and the International Olympic Committee have insisted the Olympics will open as scheduled on July 23.
Should that play out as planned, the Games will be held under a series of COVID-19 countermeasures designed to limit the risk posed by the novel coronavirus.
Before the outbreak, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were scheduled to run from July 23 to August 8, with the Paralympics due to follow from August 24 to September 5 in 2020.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
