According to Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, the Olympic Games are currently on track to run in the summer of 2021 in the Japanese capital.
In an interview with Reuters, Koike said that the coronavirus situation is Japan has been improving and that all signs are pointing to the Games running as scheduled.
“I think the situation is much better than before,” Koike said. “We will do our best to prevent coronavirus infections here in Japan and also to welcome the athletes from all over the world.”
In late July, Koike had said that Tokyo could potentially declare a state of emergency if the COVID-19 situation continued to worsen. While the city experienced record daily highs of up to 472 on Aug.1, things have since settled with 187 new cases confirmed on Tuesday.
Koike said that Tokyo has established measures to combat contagion, but that an effective vaccine would be “an essential factor” in determining whether the Games are able to go through in less than a year’s time.
According to worldometers.com, Japan has the 38th-most active coronavirus cases among all countires with 11,494 while having the 152nd-most confirmed cases overall per one million people (499).
The Games are set to begin on July 23, 2021 and run through August 8, 2021. The swimming competition is scheduled to begin on July 24.
Good luck – Best guess is nobody going to Japan in 2021.