Tokyo Olympics 2021 to go ahead even if city is under a state of emergency amid COVID: IOC

Even with the strong internal resistance against the upcoming Tokyo Olympics growing, International Olympic Committee (IOC) Vice President John Coates has confirmed that the 2021 summer games will go ahead even if the city was under a state of emergency due to COVID-19. 

"The Tokyo Olympics will go ahead even if the city is under a state of emergency due to COVID-19," International Olympic Committee  (IOC) Vice President John Coates said.

This comes after Japan extended its 'state of emergency' from six to nine regions to curb the rising cases of COVID-19 in the island nation. Tokyo is already one of them and has been placed under emergency till May 31. More than half of Japan's 47 prefectures have reached 'Stage 4', the highest on the four-point scale pertaining to the weekly rise in infections per 100,000 population.

Will Tokyo Olympics be held in 2021? 

With Tokyo becoming the latest city to witness a surge in infections, several officials and healthcare professionals are requesting PM Yoshihide Suga to cancel the upcoming Olympic games. "We strongly request that the authorities convince the International Olympic Committee that holding the Olympics is difficult and obtain its decision to cancel the Games. The medical institutions dealing with Covid-19 have their hands full and have almost no spare capacity," Tokyo Medical Practitioners Association said in an open letter.

Even with rising cases of Coronavirus in Japan, the IOC and the Japanese Prime Minister have confirmed that the Tokyo Olympics 2021 will not be postponed any further and will be held as per plan. 

With the Olympics less than nearly 2 months away, the nation has begun imposing tougher restrictions putting its prefectures under lockdown till June to curb the rising cases. Japan has also been working on ramping up its vaccination drive and has announced new measures to channel more resources for the same. More doctors are being roped in while the country's military has been asked to set up vaccination centers in Tokyo.

Tokyo will be hosting the Olympics beginning from July 23 until August 8, 2021.