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Last year, when the Tokyo Organising Committee (TOCOG) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), despite their initial resentment, postponed the Tokyo Summer Olympics 2020 to a rescheduled date “beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021”, the idea was that the COVID-19 pandemic would have ebbed out by then.
Now, the world’s largest sports event would take place between 23 July and 8 August 2021 – a year after the original dates of event.
But things haven’t changed much. By April of 2021, the world was witnessing its worst COVID-19 numbers – driven by an increase in the cases in India and Brazil. Within two months, this wave has peaked as well. Many would have thought that it would be normal Olympics.
But then, COVID-19 had different plans. The fast-spreading virus seems to be coming up with newer variants at a rate faster than Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) could launch newer models of its iconic iPhone. By June, as the deadliest wave of Covid-19 seemed to be toning down, the UK announced detection of new Delta variant of COVID-19.
Even before the second wave could become manageable, the Delta variant started pushing the world towards the third wave, a month before the global mega sporting event was about to start.
However, this time, the organisers couldn’t afford to postpone the event for another time. They did the best they could in such a scenario: managing the number of spectators at the event. Initially, the organisers had banned international spectators from attending and set a limit on domestic crowds at 50% of capacity, at maximum to 10,000 people. But things have got messier now. Japan has imposed a state of emergency – beginning Monday and running through to 22 August.
“No spectators will be allowed into any venues in Tokyo during the Olympic Games. Under this policy, in areas where emergency measures are not in force, local government authorities will meet and decide specific measures in consultation with the local governors based on the situation in each area,” IOC said in a statement, following the talks with the government officials.
Venues outside the greater Tokyo metropolitan area would allow small numbers of spectators, and the policy for the Paralympics will be decided next month.
But what is happening at Tokyo Olympics should be least of the worries right now. The virus has started engulfing the low- and middle-income nations badly.
Africa, which, by far remains the world’s poorest inhabited continent, despite being resource rich, has seen a surge of 21% iin fresh COVID-19 cases in the past one week. Of the 55 nations on the continent, more than half – 29 – have seen a double-digit surge in fresh weekly cases. In Asia as well, four countries – Laos, Myanmar, Cyprus, and Vietnam – have seen a weekly fresh case surge in excess of 100%.
