Friday, July 23, 2021 4:46:54 AM
Tokyo reports highest daily COVID-19 case number in six months on the eve of Olympic Games
"New infections rising in every state; Fauci says we'd still have polio if vaccine had drawn COVID-like misinformation: Live COVID updates
"Delta Is Driving a Wedge Through Missouri"
Jordan Culver John Bacon
USA TODAYJuly 18, 2021
VIDEO - How Covid-19 pandemic is impacting the Tokyo Olympic games"
Posted 19h ago
Less than 24 hours remain on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games countdown clock. (
Reuters: Kim Kyung-Hoon)
Tokyo has hit a new six-month high in new COVID-19 cases, one day before the Olympics' opening ceremony, as worries grow of a worsening of infections during the Games.
Key points:
* The 1,979 new cases reported on Thursday are the highest since January
* The Olympics opening ceremony is on Friday
* Four more Olympic village residents, including two athletes, tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who is determined to hold the Olympics, placed Tokyo under a state of emergency on July 12, but daily cases have sharply increased since then.
The emergency measures, which largely involve a ban on alcohol sales and shorter hours for restaurants and bars, are to last until August 22, after the Olympics end on August 8.
The 1,979 new cases on Thursday are the highest since 2,044 were recorded on January 15.
Japan has reported about 853,000 cases and 15,100 deaths since the pandemic began, most of them this year.
Yoshihide Suga's government has been accused of putting the Olympics before the Japanese people's health.
(Reuters: Thomas Peter)
The Olympics, delayed for a year by the pandemic, begin on Friday.
Spectators are banned from all venues in the Tokyo area, with limited audiences allowed at a few outlying sites.
Four more residents of the Olympic village, including two athletes, tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.
A total of 91 people accredited for the Tokyo Games have tested positive since the beginning of July.
Skateboarder Candy Jacobs of the Netherlands and table tennis player Pavel Sirucek of the Czech Republic tested positive and had to leave the village to enter a quarantine hotel.
The battle to keep COVID-19 out of the Olympics village is ramping up
The stakes for the Olympics couldn't be higher, but what I saw when athletes arrived at the airport made me nervous.
Read more > https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-21/olympics-arrivals-were-not-always-coronavirus-safe/100304564
Two additional "Games-concerned personnel" — a category that includes team coaches and officials — staying in the village overlooking Tokyo Bay tested positive.
The 91 cases do not include athletes who tested positive at home before heading to Tokyo like tennis stars Alex de Minaur and Coco Gauff.
Mr Suga's government has been criticised for what some say is prioritising the Olympics over the nation's health.
His public support ratings have fallen to around 30 per cent in recent media surveys, and there has been little festivity ahead of the Games.
On Thursday, the director of the opening ceremony, Kentaro Kobayashi, was dismissed over a past Holocaust joke.
Mr Suga is to meet with US First Lady Jill Biden on Thursday and have dinner at the state guest house.
Earlier in the day, he was visited by World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Japan's Emperor Naruhito wished the athletes good health after meeting IOC president Thomas Bach.
(Reuters: Imperial Household Agency of Japan)
Also Thursday, Emperor Naruhito received a courtesy visit from International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach at the Imperial Palace.
Emperor Naruhito said he hoped all athletes will compete in good health and achieve their best performances.
Mr Bach said the Olympic community was doing its best not to pose any risk to the Japanese people.
Experts say virus infections among unvaccinated people younger than age 50 are rising sharply.
Japan's vaccinations began late and slowly, but the pace picked up in May as the government pushed to accelerate the drive before the Olympics, though the pace has since slowed due to a shortage of imported vaccines.
About 23 per cent of Japanese are fully vaccinated, well short of the level believed necessary to have any meaningful effect on reducing the risk in the general population.
Experts warned on Wednesday that infections in Tokyo are likely to continue to worsen in coming weeks.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-22/tokyo-olympics-highest-coronavirus-cases-reported-in-six-months/100316434
"New infections rising in every state; Fauci says we'd still have polio if vaccine had drawn COVID-like misinformation: Live COVID updates
"Delta Is Driving a Wedge Through Missouri"
Jordan Culver John Bacon
USA TODAYJuly 18, 2021
VIDEO - How Covid-19 pandemic is impacting the Tokyo Olympic games"
Posted 19h ago
Less than 24 hours remain on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games countdown clock. (
Reuters: Kim Kyung-Hoon)
Tokyo has hit a new six-month high in new COVID-19 cases, one day before the Olympics' opening ceremony, as worries grow of a worsening of infections during the Games.
Key points:
* The 1,979 new cases reported on Thursday are the highest since January
* The Olympics opening ceremony is on Friday
* Four more Olympic village residents, including two athletes, tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who is determined to hold the Olympics, placed Tokyo under a state of emergency on July 12, but daily cases have sharply increased since then.
The emergency measures, which largely involve a ban on alcohol sales and shorter hours for restaurants and bars, are to last until August 22, after the Olympics end on August 8.
The 1,979 new cases on Thursday are the highest since 2,044 were recorded on January 15.
Japan has reported about 853,000 cases and 15,100 deaths since the pandemic began, most of them this year.
Yoshihide Suga's government has been accused of putting the Olympics before the Japanese people's health.
(Reuters: Thomas Peter)
The Olympics, delayed for a year by the pandemic, begin on Friday.
Spectators are banned from all venues in the Tokyo area, with limited audiences allowed at a few outlying sites.
Four more residents of the Olympic village, including two athletes, tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.
A total of 91 people accredited for the Tokyo Games have tested positive since the beginning of July.
Skateboarder Candy Jacobs of the Netherlands and table tennis player Pavel Sirucek of the Czech Republic tested positive and had to leave the village to enter a quarantine hotel.
The battle to keep COVID-19 out of the Olympics village is ramping up
The stakes for the Olympics couldn't be higher, but what I saw when athletes arrived at the airport made me nervous.
Read more > https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-21/olympics-arrivals-were-not-always-coronavirus-safe/100304564
Two additional "Games-concerned personnel" — a category that includes team coaches and officials — staying in the village overlooking Tokyo Bay tested positive.
The 91 cases do not include athletes who tested positive at home before heading to Tokyo like tennis stars Alex de Minaur and Coco Gauff.
Mr Suga's government has been criticised for what some say is prioritising the Olympics over the nation's health.
His public support ratings have fallen to around 30 per cent in recent media surveys, and there has been little festivity ahead of the Games.
On Thursday, the director of the opening ceremony, Kentaro Kobayashi, was dismissed over a past Holocaust joke.
Mr Suga is to meet with US First Lady Jill Biden on Thursday and have dinner at the state guest house.
Earlier in the day, he was visited by World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Japan's Emperor Naruhito wished the athletes good health after meeting IOC president Thomas Bach.
(Reuters: Imperial Household Agency of Japan)
Also Thursday, Emperor Naruhito received a courtesy visit from International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach at the Imperial Palace.
Emperor Naruhito said he hoped all athletes will compete in good health and achieve their best performances.
Mr Bach said the Olympic community was doing its best not to pose any risk to the Japanese people.
Experts say virus infections among unvaccinated people younger than age 50 are rising sharply.
Japan's vaccinations began late and slowly, but the pace picked up in May as the government pushed to accelerate the drive before the Olympics, though the pace has since slowed due to a shortage of imported vaccines.
About 23 per cent of Japanese are fully vaccinated, well short of the level believed necessary to have any meaningful effect on reducing the risk in the general population.
Experts warned on Wednesday that infections in Tokyo are likely to continue to worsen in coming weeks.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-22/tokyo-olympics-highest-coronavirus-cases-reported-in-six-months/100316434
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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