The World Health Organization (WHO) has predicted 100,000 Covid-19 deaths by the end of the Tokyo Olympics this summer.
The Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics was delayed for one year due to the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. The games finally kicked off on Wednesday, July 21.
A total of 11,000 athletes from 200 countries are set to arrive for the Olympics and the number of cases in Japan linked to the Games now stands at 79. This is according to information provided by the organizers. Five of the cases are Olympic Village residents, three of which are athletes.
Those who tested positive for Covid-19 include: tennis star Coco Gauff, US gymnast Kara Eaker and basketball player Katie Lou Samuelson. Their olympic dreams came to an abrupt end since they tested positive prior to travelling to Japan.
However, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has urged people not to forget that the Covid-19 pandemic is still plaguing the entire and events like Olympics could be a super spreader.
“By the time the Olympic flame is extinguished on the eighth of August, more than 100,000 more people will perish,” Tedros, who is in Tokyo for the Games, said on Wednesday.
“The pandemic is a test, and the world is failing,” he said, adding that anyone who thinks the pandemic is over is living in a “fool’s paradise.”
Opinion polls in Japan indicate that most people are opposed to the idea of holding a major sporting event during a Covid-19 pandemic outbreak and even the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned fans from attending the competition — an Olympic first.
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