Tokyo's Olympic dream: Quo vadis, COVID-19?

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cast a giant shadow on the opening of the Tokyo Olympic Games. With less than a month left, anxiety over the possibility that foreign athletes and journalists could be carriers of the emerging deadly Delta variant has been added to the hosts’ long list of concerns.

While the ban on all foreign spectators and a 10,000-person cap on live audiences at the various venues has clipped revenue expectations, sponsors hope that this would be offset by millions of fans following the games on television and live streaming platforms.

Observance of tight health and safety protocols and restriction of the movement of athletes and journalists to defined ‘bubbles’ has been announced by Games officials as these two groups of participants have started to arrive in Japan. They are required to undergo quarantine and testing before they are permitted to acclimatize themselves to the competition venues. GPS trackers are being utilized to ensure that they do not violate the mobility limits.