Tokyo Olympics could be cancelled amidst COVID-19 scare

The Japanese public has voiced their opinions against the commencement of the Tokyo Olympics scheduled in July. With the poor situation regarding the rapid spread of Coronavirus, the entire nation (especially Tokyo) is under a severe health crisis.

There have been 616,835 reported positive cases throughout the country, with over ten thousand deaths. An online petition with the objective of cancellation of the event has received 200,000 votes by Friday, which is aptly representative of the fact that the collective opinion doesn’t favour such an activity which includes a big mass of participation.

The chief of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, as well as the Japanese organizing committee, have asserted their belief in the possibility of conducting the Olympics and the Paralympics safely. Putting forward these statements, they believe that these games, which were postponed by a year, will have a contribution to the propagation of hope and cheerfulness in these trying times.

A significant backing behind IOC’s firm trust in the Olympics in July is the promise they made about providing every athlete with COVID-19 vaccine doses. However, the bigger picture here is that the vaccination of just the athletes does not ensure damage control of the event. All the workers directly involved in the Olympics and the Paralympics will be subject to extreme risk.

Moreover, the vaccination process in Japan has been deemed sluggish. After the distribution only started for citizens who are 65 and over around a month ago, it is utterly infeasible for the general public to be immunized by July.

Although the use of bio-bubbles has been proved to be effective in tournaments like IPL 2021 in India, being part of that lifestyle for prolonged periods has shown ill-effects on the players’ mental health. If the Olympics and the Paralympics rightfully get cancelled due to obvious concerns, the cash flow issued there could be utilized in several crucial areas of COVID relief throughout the country.