A senior International Olympic Committee (IOC) official insists “barring an Armageddon” this year’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics will go ahead despite fresh fears from the head of a Japanese doctors’ union that the Games could create a new strain of COVID-19.

Dick Pound, the longest-serving member of the IOC, has underlined the organisers’ commitment to staging the Olympics in response to growing concerns over the coronavirus pandemic and increasing calls for the Games to be cancelled.

Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun has recently published an editorial, urging Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to cancel Tokyo 2020 as public opposition in Japan continues to grow.

Their concerns come as the Japanese Government looks set to extend the state of emergency measures in a number of prefectures, including Tokyo, due to rising COVID-19 cases.

According to Kyodo News, a research institute predicted that the cancelling the Olympics and Paralympics would cost Japan ¥1.81 trillion (£11.73 billion/$16.57 billion/€13.59 billion).

Pound has also spoken of his confidence in the COVID-19 countermeasures that are set to be put in place by Tokyo 2020 organisers.

“I really don’t know what the issue is other than you’ve got a well-informed, scientific group in contact with public health, which say that there’s no incremental risk going ahead with the Games to the Japanese,” Pound told Standard Sport.

“The people coming for the large measure will be vaccinated, will upon arrival be put in a bubble and kept in a bubble until they go back home.

“Organisers have now changed gears and they’re in the operational part of it.

“Barring Armageddon that we can’t see or anticipate, these things are a go.”

IOC President Thomas Bach recently claimed that more than 80 per cent of people in the Athletes’ Village would be vaccinated.

John Coates, chair of the Tokyo 2020 Coordination Commission, also claimed that it was now “clearer than ever” the Games would be safe for everyone participating, as well as the general public in Japan.

Overseas spectators have already been barred from attending the Games while a decision has yet to be taken over whether Japanese citizens will be permitted at the venues.

Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto said last week that the number of Games participants from abroad had been reduced to 59,000, compared to the expected 180,000 from last year.

But Naoto Ueyama, head of the Japan Doctors Union, has warned that the Games could develop a new strain of coronavirus.

“All of the different mutant strains of the virus which exist in different places will be concentrated and gathering here in Tokyo,” said Ueyama.

“We cannot deny the possibility of even a new strain of the virus potentially emerging after the Olympics.

“If such a situation were to arise, it could even mean a Tokyo Olympic strain of the virus being named in this way, which would be a huge tragedy and something which would be the target of criticism even for 100 years.”

Tokyo reported a further 684 cases of COVID-19 as the Japanese Government considers extending the state of emergency.

The strict measures are set to end on May 31, but Suga is expected to make a decision tomorrow to extend restrictions with reports suggesting they could be in place until June 20 – almost a month before the Olympics are due to open.

The Nomura Research Institute claims Japan will lose ¥1.81 trillion should the Games be cancelled.

But it warned the country may face an even bigger economic loss if it imposed another state of emergency after the Games have taken place.

“Even if the Games are cancelled, the economic loss will be smaller than [the damage done by] a state of emergency,” Takahide Kiuchi, executive economist at the Nomura Research Institute told Kyodo News.

It also reports that Tokyo 2020 will generate ¥1.66 trillion (£10.76 billion/$15.2 billion/€12.46 billion) in economic benefits should it be held without the spectators – ¥146.8 billion (£952,000/$1.34 million/€1.1 million) less than it would gain with Japanese fans.

In Japan, only 2.4 per cent of people are fully vaccinated against the virus, although the country has stepped up its inoculation process by opening vaccination centres in both Tokyo and Osaka.

The Japanese Government are looking to fully vaccinate all residents aged 65 or older – about 36 million people – by the end of July.

Doses of the vaccine developed by Moderna are set to be administered at the centres after it was approved for use in Japan by the country’s Government last week.

According to reports in Japan, two large-scale inoculation centres will be able to deliver up to 15,000 jabs each day – 10,000 in Tokyo and 5,000 in Osaka.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics are scheduled to run from July 23 to August 8, before the Paralympics take place between August 24 and September 5.

-insdethegames