Hospitals in Japan's capital are being overstretched as the country battles its worst wave of COVID-19 infections, driven by the Delta variant.
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Organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics admit they are facing a “very difficult situation” as hospitals in the Japanese capital come under increasing strain due to surging COVID-19 cases. Hidemasa Nakamura, delivery officer for Tokyo 2020, said the city’s battle against coronavirus had “deteriorated” since the start of the Olympics, further raising question marks over the staging of the Paralympics. Japan topped 25,000 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours for the first time. Much of the country, including Tokyo is under a state of emergency.
On the eve of the opening ceremony of the Olympics on July 23, Tokyo registered nearly 2,000 COVID-19 infections. Almost one month later, Tokyo totalled more than 5,000 cases for a third straight day. 5,405 cases were reported over the past 24 hours.
The Paralympics are due to start next Tuesday (August 24). Around 4,400 athletes from across the world are set to compete. After a meeting with experts on COVID-19 countermeasures, Nakamura admitted more needed to be done to protect athletes from the virus.
“Para athletes compared to Olympic athletes have the risk of getting an even serious symptom. So we need to be even more careful,” said Nakamura.
“The infection state is different to how it was for the Olympics. It has deteriorated and the local medical situation is tight. The Olympic COVID-19 countermeasures will continue to be followed but additional measures will be required.”
The Paralympians will be tested frequently to keep a check on cases. They will be restricted travel wise, sticking to set venues and the athletes village.
With just five days to go, there have been 86 positive tests among those in and around the Paralympic base. Most of these recorded among Japan-based employees and contractors.
The Paralympics will run until September 5 – with around 4,400 athletes from approximately 160 teams set to take part. That number is less than a third of that for the Olympics, which finished on August 8. According to a report by Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, a hospital in Tokyo rejected a request from Paralympic organisers to offer emergency care for serious cases.
Yuichi Hamabe, who heads the Tertiary Emergency Medical Center of the Tokyo Metropolitan Bokutoh Hospital, said it was “unthinkable to accept such a request when a response at the level of a natural disaster is required to contain the spread of the virus”.
“The Organising Committee made the request just before the Paralympics kick off,” said Hamabe.
“It shows the Games can’t be held safely. Concerned parties should quickly discuss whether to go ahead with the Paralympics.”
Nakamura conceded that the “limitations” in the capacity of hospitals had presented extra challenges for organisers to overcome.
“Even in today’s roundtable, a couple of doctors mentioned that given the current medical situation we are going to have to have this Paralympic Games in a very difficult situation,” he said.
“If a serious symptom were to occur we would need to have contact flow in line and we also need to include the hospitals and medical facilities in that flow of contact. It’s really a matter of time. It’s a fight against time so we need to make sure that sufficient communication is taken at a speedy manner.”
