The Olympics will start July 23 in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizing committee chief Yoshiro Mori says.
The former prime minister said the summer Olympics were a go regardless of COVID in Japan. "We will hold the Olympics...We must consider new ways of hosting the Olympics."
Mori's comments reinforce similar statements made last week by Tokyo 2020 CEO Muto Toshiro, who said organizers were "unwavering" in their decision to hold the games this year.
"Holding the games is our unwavering policy, and at this point in time we're not discussing anything other than that," Muto said.
Muto said Japan was "anxious" about staging the Olympics as local COVID-19 cases rose. This concern is especially strong in Tokyo, which leads Japan in total confirmed cases. Tokyo is currently under a state of emergency to curb the spread of the disease.
On Tuesday, the government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga extended to March 7 the state of emergency covering Tokyo and other prefectures. Affected by the new lockdown are Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Aichi, Gifu, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Fukuoka.
"Looking at the situation from region to region, the number of infections is still high and the medical system continues to be strained," said Dr. Omi Shigeru, chair of the government's coronavirus subcommittee.
Rumors last week claimed Suga was searching for a face-saving excuse to cancel the already delayed summer Olympic Games set to start July 23 and end Aug. 8.
In France, the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games said Paris will be ready to host the 2024 games.
Tony Estanguet, head of the organizing committee, said Tuesday it was working on contingency plans. "When you organize events like this, you try to anticipate, but nobody could imagine that COVID-19 would create such a mess in our lives. We can predict a lot of things, but not this," Estanguet said.
"What's interesting is to see how we can react to unpredictable events. As early as last year, we had to reorganize and work on a new concept, in terms of competition sites, for instance, to see how we could adapt to a new context."
He said while there was "no official plan B we're identifying the risks and the solutions. And we will be working on this until the end because risks constantly evolve."
