Tokyo Olympics: infection numbers threaten Paralympics as Japan counts cost of Games and Suga watches approval dip

Public sentiment towards the Games warmed as Japanese athletes claimed record medal hauls but host nation has been left with a US$15 billion bill and a raging pandemic

Government experts will meet in Tokyo on Monday to discuss the risks faced by tens of thousands of athletes, officials, support staff and media attending the Paralympics

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Athletes take a selfie during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:45pm, 9 Aug 2021Updated: 8:57pm, 9 Aug 2021

A decision to cancel the Tokyo Paralympics could be made this week unless Japan’s new coronavirus infections can be brought under control, according to a senior government health adviser.

The Olympics, which finished on the weekend, have been hailed as a relative success in uniquely trying circumstances, and public sentiment gradually warmed as Japanese athletes claimed record medal hauls. However, Japan must now confront soaring infection numbers and a US$15 billion bill for staging the Games – and in bad news for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, the event appears to have done little to lift his sagging approval rating.

The panel of experts set up by Suga’s government to guide national strategy during the pandemic will meet in Tokyo on Monday to discuss the risks faced by tens of thousands of athletes, officials, support staff and media attending the Paralympics, which open on August 24.

Kazuhiro Tateda, president of the Japan Association of Infectious Diseases and a member of the government’s advisory committee, said the situation has become “critical”.

“It is certainly becoming worse, both in the number of new infections and the spread of the new variant of the illness, but also on the clinical side as there are not enough facilities to treat people,” he said.

“We always said that 4,000 cases a day in Tokyo was going to be a worryingly high figure, in part because it puts so much pressure on the clinical side of the response, but there are some models that predict as many as 10,000 new cases daily in the next two weeks.”

Tateda said the best-case scenario would be for new infections to remain below 5,000 per day for the next week and to then decline.