Paralympics on track despite rising COVID cases in Japan say organisers

Record ID: 1630200

  • Title: Paralympics on track despite rising COVID cases in Japan say organisers
  • Date: 2nd August 2021
  • Summary: BONN, GERMANY (AUGUST 2, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) IPC CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, CRAIG SPENCE, SAYING: "I think every stakeholder involved in the Games has got a role to play in trying to calm the Japanese people who are fearful about what this Games means for them but I hope the Olympics has given them a feeling of reassurance, I think that though there were fears from the Japanese people that the Games would act as this event that increased - that the Games constituents would bring Covid to the country and therefore the numbers would rise, now what we have seen is a rise in case numbers in Japan but it doesn't appear that's related to the Games stakeholders."
  • Embargoed: 16th August 2021 13:24
  • Keywords: COVID-19 Japan Olympics Paralympics Rio Tokyo
  • Location: BONN, GERMANY, RIO, BRAZIL, AND TOKYO, JAPAN
  • City: BONN, GERMANY, RIO, BRAZIL, AND TOKYO, JAPAN
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Olympics,Sport
  • Reuters ID: LVA00CEOL5E87
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is confident that the Paralympics will go ahead at the end of this month, a spokesperson said on Monday (August 2), despite rising COVID case numbers in Japan and continued opposition from some members of the public.
    The rising case numbers had led some to speculate that the Paralympics may not be held, something denied by Craig Spence of the IPC.
    "For the last 18 months we've heard a different rumour on an hourly basis, if we reacted to every rumour we heard we'd never sleep," he said, adding that they had received reassurances from the stakeholders that mattered, including the Japanese government and the Tokyo Metropolitan government.
    Spence also said he hoped the huge outcry that followed the near cancellation of the Rio Paralympics in 2016 made it even more unlikely something similar would happen this time around.
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