Outside specialists still see issues with Japan’s porous bubble for Summer Games participants
TOKYO—Initial data suggest that the spectator-free Tokyo Olympics didn’t exacerbate the Covid-19 outbreak in Japan, providing organizers of theJapan held the Summer Games from July 23 to Aug. 8 despite concern that around 50,000 athletes, officials and others from overseas might accelerate the spread of the virus. The visitors arrived mostly in July, just as the highly contagiouswith full force, and infections in the country hit a peak in the first part of August during the Games.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said Friday that she had reached the same conclusion because government data showed the pace of Delta’s spread slowed as the Olympics were happening. Some medical experts said it was too early to say whether the Games were safe. Organizers said 29 athletes and more than 500 other people involved in the event, including Japanese staff and visiting officials, were confirmed to have Covid-19 infections.
A report by Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases on Aug. 28 pointed to an Olympic connection in cases of Delta with a certain mutation. The mutation was associated in one study with the ability to escape antibodies. The report said 33 of 41 cases in Japan of this Delta type were found in people involved in the Olympics or Paralympics.
“There seems to be a double standard here. There was quite a well-controlled situation in the Olympic Village, but outside it was totally the opposite,” he said.
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