Olympics-Japan set to extend COVID-19 states of emergency ahead of Games

Japan was set on Friday to extend a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas by about three weeks to June 20 as the COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of easing less than two months before the Summer Olympics open.

The state of emergency in the capital and eight other prefectures had been scheduled to end on May 31, but strains on the medical system. Japan has seen a

record number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition in recent days,

even as the number of new infections has slowed. “In Osaka and Tokyo, the flow of people is starting to creep up, and there are concerns that infections will rise,” Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who also heads the country’s coronavirus countermeasures, said at the start of a meeting with experts.

The experts later approved the government proposal and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is expected to officially announce the extensions later on Friday.

Worries about variants of the novel coronavirus and a slow vaccination drive

have prompted urgent calls from doctors, some high-profile business executives, and hundreds of thousands of citizens to cancel the Olympic Games, due to start on July 23.

Japanese officials, Olympics organisers and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have said the Games would go ahead under strict virus-prevention measures. IOC Vice President John Coates, who oversees the preparations, said last week the Games were on  whether or not the host city,

Tokyo, is under a state of emergency at the time.

Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee President Seiko Hashimoto told a news conference she had received pledges from India – now battling a deadly second COVID-19 wave – and five other countries to vaccinate all their Olympic delegates as a countermeasure against a new variant that has emerged in India.

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IOC President Thomas Bach has 80% of the 10,500 athletes expected in Japan would be vaccinated and on Thursday urged Olympians to get their shots if they could. Delegates must also be tested before and after arrival.

“I WANT TO SAY ‘SHUT UP'”

Comments by IOC officials appearing to dismiss Japanese concerns have sparked outrage on social media, including IOC President Thomas Bach telling an International Athletes Forum on Thursday: “Come with full confidence to Tokyo and get ready”, calling Tokyo the “best prepared Olympic city ever”.