Tokyo Covid-19 infections continue to increase one week before the Olympics begin

Tokyo Covid-19 infections continue to increase one week before the Olympics begin

Sawako Uchida and Sawako Utsumi

Modern Tokyo Times

New daily infections of the coronavirus (Covid-19) in Tokyo reached a figure last reported in late January. Thus with the neighboring prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Saitama witnessing a new upturn in daily infections, the situation looks bleak with one week to go before the start of the Tokyo Olympics.

Yesterday 1,308 new coronavirus infections were reported in Tokyo. Similarly, Kanagawa reported its highest figure since January. Hence, the safe Olympics promised by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is an illusion because Tokyo remains under the State of Emergency.

NHK reports that Koike said, “Tokyo will set up an environment where athletes can perform at their best.”

However, with training restrictions, limited sporting competitions this year, athletes being cooked up because of coronavirus restrictions, competing at venues where ordinary spectators are banned, and other negatives, all this equates to many athletes having mixed feelings. Also, competing only in front of VIPs makes a mockery of the Olympic ideals. Thus privileged athletes will be watched by privileged wealthy individuals. Therefore, this isn’t an environment that will bring joy to caring athletes.

Koike said, “We’d like to protect the health and lives of people who have come from around the world.”

This statement sums up Koike’s political nature of hoodwinking. After all, Koike knows that she can’t even stem the crisis in Shinjuku, where the main Tokyo Metropolitan Government building is located in Tokyo. Therefore, if after well over one year she can’t stem the coronavirus crisis in Tokyo, despite a shockingly low rate of daily PCR tests, it seems like more empty words from Koike.

Lee Jay Walker says, “The Tokyo Olympics will be remembered for IOC greed and the selfishness of athletes – because they know that the games are unwanted by the majority of people in Japan. Of course, nobody expected much from the Liberal Democratic Party under Suga – nor from the Tokyo Governor who is tied to the same ruling party. Yet more was expected from the IOC rather than focusing on finance and treating Japan with disdain.”

The Delta variant (first reported in India) is spreading throughout Japan. However, the Japanese political elites and the IOC care little. Instead, taxpayers must put up with the negative financial implications of the Olympics and ignore the anxiety angle concerning the endless coronavirus crisis that persists under the current State of Emergency in Tokyo – and quasi measures in others parts of Japan.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210715_28/

https://stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/ – Tokyo Metropolitan Government website for updates about the coronavirus crisis in Tokyo.

https://toyokeizai.net/sp/visual/tko/covid19/en.html – Japan and Tokyo Covid-19 news with more analysis

https://covid19japan.com/ – Japan regional coronavirus statistics

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ World coronavirus statistics

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