Initial investigations into the Tokyo Olympics have shown that the games did not exacerbate the Covid-19 outbreak in Japan. Japan held the summer competitions from July 23 to August 8 despite concerns over the spread of Covid-19 among 50,000 athletes, officials, and other overseas individuals. The visitors arrived in July, just around the time that the Delta variant began spreading through Japan. Infections in Japan hit a peak in the first part of August, during the games. However, the scale and speed of infections in Tokyo were not different from those in other countries affected by the Delta variant.
In Tokyo, cases fell sharply starting in mid-August. There is no indication that the virus spread from the Olympic bubble to the people of Tokyo or Japan and vice versa, stated the International Olympic Committee President, Thomas Bach. Tokyo’s Governor Yuriko Koike echoed Bach’s statements, stating that government data showed that the pace of Delta’s spread slowed as the Olympics were happening. Japan barred spectators from the events and visitors from overseas were only allowed to move within the Olympic bubble. However, hundreds of Japanese staff, contractors, and volunteers traveled between the Olympics venues and Tokyo communities for the duration of the event.
Read More: Tokyo Olympics Didn’t Worsen Covid-19 Spread, Data Suggest
