Virus casts shadow as Games enter final countdown

Tokyo entered the final Olympic countdown yesterday, but there was little fanfare with just one week until the opening ceremony, as virus infections surge in the Japanese capital.

Organisers have been forced to bar spectators from all events in the city and most venues hosting competitions elsewhere in the country.

And Olympic participants from athletes to media face a range of anti-virus measures including regular testing and limits on their movement.

But with Tokyo recording its highest case numbers since a winter wave in January, scrutiny of virus risks around the Games is intense.

The government has asked organisers to investigate reports of Olympic participants breaking virus rules “and impose strict punishment” if necessary, government spokesman Katsunobu Kato told reporters.

On Thursday, International

Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach insisted anti-virus rules were “in place, and they are working, and they are enforced.”

Among thousands of Games-related arrivals to the country in July, only a handful of positive cases have been recorded.

Over the past two days, organisers have reported 10 positive tests among Games participants in Japan, including one athlete.

Other cases have been found among teams arriving for training camps, with local media reporting yesterday that a member of Nigeria’s delegation had been hospitalised after testing positive at the airport.

Tokyo is currently under a virus state of emergency that will run throughout the Games.

Dozens of teams are already in Japan — some at training camps dotted around the country, and others in the Olympic Village, where national flags have been hung on the buildings housing delegations.

British weightlifter Sarah Davies was among the athletes posting on social media about life at the pandemic Olympics.

“We have what we call the prison yard,” she said in a video posted on her Instagram account as she walked on a stretch of pavement.

“So we can literally walk up and down this stretch between the hours of 7am and 10am, and that is the only time we’re allowed outside,” she said.

“Genuinely, feels like we’re in prison. But, hey, it is what it is... Welcome to the Olympic Games, Covid edition.”