The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has reassured Japan on Wednesday that the Tokyo Olympics would be safe for athletes as well as the host community. This comes, amidst mounting opposition to the Games and fears it will fuel a spike in COVID-19 cases.
 
Speaking in Tokyo alongside senior Japanese officials, IOC chief Thomas Bach said he believed more than 80per cent of residents of the Olympic Village would be vaccinated or booked for vaccination ahead of the Games which is set to start on 23rd July.
 
He rejected growing calls to cancel the global sporting showpiece, already delayed once due to the pandemic. He said that other sporting events had proved the Olympics could go ahead with strong COVID precautions.
 
Bach's comments came as Japan kept up a battle with a fourth wave of infections. Bach re-emphasised the full commitment of the IOC to organise safe Olympic and Paralympic games for everybody.
 
The Nikkei newspaper informed that less than 30per cent of medics in Japan's major cities have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, with just 65 days left to the start of the Olympics.
 
Cabinet figures showed that three months into Japan's vaccination push, less than 40per cent of its medical workers were fully inoculated. The Nikkei added, the problem is especially in the capital, Tokyo, which plays host to the Games, and other large population centres, where the rate of fully vaccinated medical workers was less than 30per cent.
 
The paper further added that much of the vaccine supply was concentrated in large hospitals, and there had been problems in the reservation systems for medical staff. The slow pace of vaccinations of doctors and nurses has been among the complaints cited by medical groups that oppose the Games.
 
Bach said the IOC would do its part to keep the Japanese public safe. He said, they would have an additional medical personnel as part of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) delegations to support the medical operations and the strict implementation of the COVID 19 countermeasures.
 
Much of Japan, including the key cities of Tokyo and Osaka, is under a state of emergency until month-end to check the spike in infections. 
 
Japan aims to inoculate most of its 36 million people older than 65 by the end of July. To reach that target, it hopes to deliver about a million shots a day, or three times faster than the current pace.
 
So far, just 3.7per cent of the population of 126 million have received at least one vaccine shot, the lowest rate among wealthy countries.