There have been 788 cases detected and reported by the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee between 1 July and 8 September 2021, with 66 additional cases being detected among Games personnel before that date after the Committee started recording them at an unknown date.[1] The cases have sparked concerns prior to the games.[2][3] The bubble surrounding the Olympic Village has been described as having been broken after the first case occurred there in mid-July.[4]
On 7 September 2013, Tokyo was selected as the host city of the 2020 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, during the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina.[5] It was elected over Istanbul and Madrid. The games are the fourth Olympic Games to be held in Japan following Tokyo 1964 (Summer), Sapporo 1972 (Winter), and Nagano 1998 (Winter) for the Olympics. For the Paralympics, the games are the third to be held in Japan following Tokyo 1964 (Summer) and Nagano 1998 (Winter). Tokyo is the first city in Asia to host the Summer Games twice for the Olympics and Paralympics.[citation needed]
The virus first arrived in Japan on 16 January 2020, a man from Kanagawa Prefecture tested positive for the virus. Concerns were raised about the potential impact of the pandemic on athletes and visitors to the Olympic Games.[6] In February 2020, Tokyo 2020 organizers insisted that the games would not be postponed or cancelled.[7] They insisted that they were closely monitoring the spread of the disease.[8] The IOC stated that their Japanese partners and then-prime minister Shinzo Abe "made it very clear that Japan could not manage a postponement beyond next summer [2021] at the latest".[9]
On 24 March 2020, the games, which were originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, were postponed due to the pandemic. Six days later, it was announced the games have been rescheduled to 23 July to 8 August 2021 and still branded with the Tokyo 2020 name for marketing and branding purposes.[10] This is the first time that the Olympic Games have been postponed and rescheduled, rather than cancelled.[11]
On 23 July 2020, one year ahead to the rescheduled opening ceremony, a promotional video featured swimmer Rikako Ikee carrying the lantern inside the empty Japan National Stadium giving a message about the pandemic and an impact of the athletes, and planning to return onto the sport after being diagnosed with leukemia.[12]
On 20 June 2021, a few weeks before the first official case of COVID-19 was declared, a member of Ugandan Olympic delegation tested positive for the virus upon arrival in Japan.[13]
Cases of COVID-19 at the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, are part of a cluster of SARS-CoV-2 infections within the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As a result of the threat of the virus, this restricts family members and friends of the athletes, many events are being held without spectators in attendance as a precautionary measure to combat the disease and a state of emergency imposed in the Greater Tokyo Area on 8 July 2021.[14] All Olympic and Paralympic COVID cases were counted under Japan's COVID case toll than the person's home country's toll.
Timeline of positive cases
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Daily positive cases reported by the Tokyo Organizing Committee.
The first cases were reported on 2 July when the Tokyo Organising Committee announced that two Japanese citizens working for the Olympics had been tested positive. The first case of an athlete tested positive was reported on 15 July.[15] Three South African footballers in the South African men's national football team tested positive days before the opening ceremony.[16][3]Ryu Seung-min, a former Olympic athlete and International Olympic Committee member from South Korea tested positive for the coronavirus on landing in Tokyo on 18 July.[17] An American gymnast and a Czech beach volleyball player tested positive on 20 July.[18]
List of positive cases reported by the Tokyo Organizing Committee on and after July 1[1]
North Korea[19] and a number of other sportspeople eligible for the 2020 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo stated that they would not attend because of concerns relating to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the situation with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.[20][21][22] The New Zealand Paralympic team did not attend the opening ceremony of the Paralympics for safety reasons.[23]
