Tokyo Olympics: Fears mount over potential COVID economic blow

With five weeks to go to the opening ceremony, a growing chorus in Japan is calling for the Games to be postponed or cancelled. 

After last year’s cancellation due to COVID-19, the Olympic Games are due to kick off in Tokyo in five weeks’ time. But as the clock winds down on the opening ceremony, many in Japan continue to question the decision to hold the Games and risk unleashing another wave of infections that could derail the country’s fragile economic recovery. Though foreign spectators have been barred from attending the Games, the event will still draw athletes and officials from around the world, increasing the risk of new variants of COVID-19 being introduced into Japan. Some public health experts fear the Games could become a “superspreader” event. Last month, the head of the Japan Doctors Union warned the gathering could even spawn a new “Tokyo Olympic” strain of COVID-19.