IOC ready to dispatch medical aid to Tokyo for upcoming Olympics, says Bach

Lausanne: International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said on Wednesday informed that the organisation is all set to send medical staff to Tokyo for upcoming Olympic Games.

The announcement was made in a video conference between the IOC commission and Japanese organisers before the opening of the Games on July 23.

On the first day of a three-day coordination commission meeting, Bach clarified that the IOC plans to dispatch additional medical personnel "to support the medical operations and the strict implementation of Covid-19 countermeasures in the Olympic Village and Olympic venues".

The IOC chief's words come at a time when doctors and nurses in Japan have expressed strong opposition to the Games with hospitals overwhelmed by rising numbers of coronavirus infections.

However, the Governors of Ibaraki and Chiba prefectures neighbouring Tokyo have also said that they have no plan to provide hospital beds to Olympians infected with the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Japanese people have raised concern about the extremely slow pace of the vaccination in Japan. Only 1.6 per cent of the country's 125 million population has been fully vaccinated since the beginning of the vaccination effort in mid-February.

Tokyo has been under another Covid-19 state of emergency since late April as the Japanese capital has been struggling to curb a fourth wave of infections.

However, Bach has promised to get more than 80 per cent of the residents in the Olympic Village will be vaccinated by the time of the Olympics.