Tokyo 2020 Games Can Still Be Cancelled Last Minute Due To Rising Covid Threat: Olympic CEO

Tokyo Olympics 2020: The head of the organizing committee of Tokyo Olympics 2020, Toshiro Muto has not ruled out the possibility of complete cancellation of the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 in the light of the rising Covid-19 cases in Japan. 

Toshiro Muto is a former bureaucrat and has close ties with the ruling party in Japan. He is known for choosing his words carefully. He was talking at a press conference ahead of the games.

“We can’t predict what will happen with the number of coronavirus cases. So we will continue discussions if there is a spike in cases,” said Muto.

“We have agreed that based on the coronavirus situation, we will convene five-party talks again. At this point, the coronavirus cases may rise or fall, so we will think about what we should do when the situation arises,” he added. When he mentions ‘five-party talks’, he means the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) and the Government of Japan (GoJ).

The Olympic Games are set to begin on July 23. IOC President Thomas Bach had assured that the situation is not out of hand and the cases reported are very few. “From July 1 to Friday, about 15,000 athletes, officials and others related to the Olympics and Paralympics have arrived in Tokyo,” Bach told a press conference on Saturday. “Corona test of all these was done, in which only 15 have been found infected.  It’s a very low rate, it’s about 0.1 percent.  The infected people were immediately isolated, so they would not pose any risk to the other participants and the people of Japan,” he added.