Olympic Athletes’ Village COVID-19 isolation bubble is already ‘shattered’ – health expert

TOKYO, July 20 (Reuters) – The isolation bubble system that Olympic organizers have put in place at the Tokyo Games Village to control COVID-19 is already broken, and there is a risk that infections will spread further Widely from within, a prominent audience said a health expert on Tuesday.

Games officials on Sunday reported the first case of the coronavirus among competitors in the village of Tokyo where 11,000 athletes are expected to stay. There have been 67 cases detected among those accredited for the Games since July 1, organizers said on Tuesday. Read more

The president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, said last week that the testing and quarantine protocols would leave “zero” the risk of Games participants infecting residents in Japan. Read more

Kenji Shibuya, former director of the Institute for Population Health at King’s College London, said such statements only served to sow confusion and anger, as the real conditions on the ground were “totally opposite”.

“It is obvious that the bubble system is somehow broken,” said Shibuya, who co-wrote in April a British Medical Journal commentary that the Olympics must be “reconsidered” due to the inability of the Japan to contain coronavirus cases. Read more

“My biggest concern is, of course, that there will be a cluster of infections in the village or in some housing and interactions with the local population.”

Insufficient testing at the bubble border and the inability to control people’s movement means the Games could exacerbate the spread of the infectious Delta variant of the virus, he said.

Ongoing reports of cases that went undetected at the airport, along with videos showing the interaction between athletes, staff and journalists, add to fears that airborne transmission is occurring in the village and venues. , he added.

New cases of COVID-19 in Tokyo hit 1,410 on Saturday, a record high for nearly six months, while the Games are due to start in just three days.

Public health experts have warned that seasonal factors, increased mobility and the spread of the Delta variant could lead to an increase of over 2,000 cases per day in Tokyo by next month, levels that could drive the medical system. of the city to a breaking point. Read more

Only 33% of people in Japan have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, among the lowest rates among wealthy countries, according to a Reuters tracker. The vaccination campaign has gained momentum since last month, but has recently ebbed due to supply and logistics issues.

In contrast, Soma City in northern Fukushima prefecture, where Shibuya has directed its vaccination efforts, recently completed most of its vaccinations, far ahead of most of Japan. Read more

Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Michael Perry and John Stonestreet

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