COVID-19: No Backing Out – Tokyo Olympics Chief

Share
  • Pandemic pushes 100m people into poverty – UN

Amid concerns about hosting the Tokyo Olympics with the Coronavirus pandemic still raging, Games organisers have rejected doubters’ insinuations about the inherent high risk of further virus spread if the games should go ahead as planned.

This is as the United Nations (UN) lamented that over 100 million people have been pushed into poverty globally by the pandemic.

President of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, Seiko Hashimoto effectively ruled out cancellation or further postponement, saying the Olympics family is focused on making the global sports carnival a huge success.

“We cannot postpone again,” Hashimoto said in an interview with Nikkan Sports newspaper as critics continue hammering on the need to further shelve the Olympic games.

Reuters reports that public opinion polls in Japan have consistently shown that a majority want the Games cancelled or put off yet again after being delayed by one year because of the coronavirus crisis.

A majority of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly feel the same way, the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper reported on Thursday.

However, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is likely to call a snap election after the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Asahi newspaper reported, showing his resolve to push ahead with the event.

Most worrying is the fact that towns and cities lined up to host Olympic training or events have increasingly expressed resistance, amid concern visitors will spread variant strains of the virus and drain medical resources.

The government of Ota City has been inundated with complaints by residents over a decision to give preferential COVID-19 vaccinations to City and hotel staff tending to Australian athletes, according to media reports.

While Japan has avoided the large-scale infections suffered by many other nations, severe cases are rising in the latest outbreak. More than 746,000 cases have been recorded and more than 13,000 deaths.

Shigeru Omi, Japan’s top Medical Adviser, told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday that it was “not normal” to host the Olympics amid the current state of infections.

Meanwhile, from its European headquarters in Geneva, the United Nations (UN) said on Wednesday that the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed more than 100 million more workers into poverty.

The UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) warned in a report that with working hours plummeting and access to good-quality jobs evaporating, the labour market crisis created by the pandemic is far from over.

It further stated in the report that employment is not expected to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels until 2023 at the earliest.

The ILO’s annual World Employment and Social Outlook report indicated that the planet would be 75 million jobs short at the end of this year compared to if the pandemic had not occurred.

And it would still have 23 million fewer jobs by the end of next year than would otherwise have been the case. COVID-19 “has not just been a public health crisis, it’s also been an employment and human crisis”, ILO chief, Guy Ryder told reporters.

“Without a deliberate effort to accelerate the creation of decent jobs, and support the most vulnerable members of society and the recovery of the hardest-hit economic sectors, the lingering effects of the pandemic could be with us for years in the form of lost human and economic potential, and higher poverty and inequality,” Ryder added. – The Guardian and agency reports

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply