Nurses at a Chiba city hospital treat a COVID-19 patients in a negative-pressure room. (Susumu Imaizumi)
Japanese doctors and nurses fighting the novel coronavirus will not have the time to volunteer to help at the Olympics, a medical association has said, raising another headache for organizers determined to hold the postponed Games.
The director of the Tokyo Medical Association, which represents 20,000 doctors from dozens of smaller medical groups, said doctors and nurses were under too much strain dealing with a third wave of the pandemic to even consider signing up for the Olympics.
“No matter how I look at it, it’s impossible,” said Satoru Arai, whose association was asked by both the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government last March to secure more than 3,500 medical staff for the event.
IOC president says there s no plan B for Tokyo Olympics this summer
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The Olympic rings are seen at Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo, Japan, on March 27, 2020. Olympic President Thomas Bach said Thursday he s confident in the safety of the Summer Games, which are scheduled to begin on July 23. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo
Jan. 21 (UPI) The head of the International Olympic Committee said Thursday that the postponed Summer Games in Tokyo are scheduled to open in July, and there s no plan B.
IOC President Thomas Bach told Kyodo News that there s no reason to think the Games, still officially called the 2020 Summer Olympics, won t begin as scheduled on July 23.