Tokyo authorities have reported the biggest daily jump in COVID-19 cases. While the pathogen never sleeps, the athletes attract thousands of fans to become a part of the world’s biggest games, the Olympics 2020.
The summer Olympics are continuing the activity amid the pandemic. While Japan shows a slow pace in immunization, the international sports event attracts thousands of visitors. The number of virus cases crossed 3,000 on Wednesday, the Japanese government confirmed.
For the capital, it is the first time to have such a high number of daily cases. Moreover, the all-time high cases follow 2,848 coronavirus infections on Tuesday despite a state of emergency in Tokyo and the surrounding provinces.
The rise in infections comes at a time when Tokyo is hosting the Olympics and Paralympics under strict COVID-19 measures since last weekend. However, the infection is also spreading among the officials and participants.
In fact, many athletes preferred to miss the controversial sports event in Tokyo due to the unbelievable pressure. Mental health is an integral part of any competition, and the COVID-19 hit it in the hardest way. For instance, Simone Bell withdrew from individual all-round to focus on her mental health.
Corona hit Olympic staff, visitors
Mercyless infection makes no difference. At least 16 more cases were reported among the Olympic staff on July 28, but none of them was the athlete. Until today, 169 such infections have been reported.
“We want to make a commitment to keep hosting a safe and secure games until the end,” Masanori Takaya, a spokesman for the organizing committee, told a news conference.
The Delta variant of the COVID-19 continues to spread across the country so fast that Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba provinces are mulling to ask the central government to expand the state of emergency in these regions due to rising infections.
The office of the Japanese prime minister said the country has reported a total of 875,506 coronavirus cases, including 15,137 deaths, since the pandemic began in 2019, Tokyo-based Kyodo News has learned.
