Jubilee Post News & Views
Special Desk
Just week before the Tokyo Olympics, the US has issued a travel warning for Japan which is based upon the country’s Covid-19 surge. But officials are confident athletes will be able to take part in the Games.
The Tokyo Olympics are slated to go from July 23 after having been postponed from 2020.
The warning has come even as Japan has imposed bans upon most travellers from entering the country. Japan long had low numbers of Covid cases but is now seeing a fresh wave of infections pushing the healthcare system in some cities to its limit.
Japan has recorded more than 700,000 infections and 12,000 Covid-19 deaths from the virus. US Center for Disease Control (CDC) said all travel to Japan should be avoided, warning that in the current situation in Japan even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk for getting and spreading infection.
Largely due to the global pandemic, the US currently has 151 countries at level four, its highest alert level, including most of Europe where large sports events go ahead under special Covid restrictions.
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Japan currently does not allow any tourists or business travellers into the country for fear of new strains of the virus. The Japanese ban includes people coming from the US being denied permission unless exceptional circumstances.
Large parts of the country are currently under a state of emergency to give regional authorities more power to enforce measures against the pandemic. Public opinion in the country has seen a vast majority of people calling for the Games to be cancelled though, or postponed a second time. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has ruled out both those options.
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) said in a statement, that we feel confident that the current mitigation practices in place for athletes and staff by both the USOPC and the Tokyo Organising Committee, coupled with the testing before travel, on arrival in Japan, and during Games time, will allow for safe participation.
