First week of Tokyo Olympics 2020 saw 87 percent spike in Japan’s COVID-19 cases

Japan is in the middle of an alarming outbreak of COVID-19 with its capital Tokyo busy hosting the Olympic games.

Tokyo is under a state of emergency since July 12, striving to ensure a successful Olympics ceremony reaches its closure on August 8.

On August 1, which was the tenth day of Tokyo Olympics 2020, the country registered 10,177 new cases and five deaths. Compared to a week ago, the number of new infections stood at 5,020 and 4 deaths.

As reported by UPI, the COVID-19 caseload in Japan has spiked by 87 percent, to stand at 937,293.

In a press conference on Sunday, Toshiro Muto, the Tokyo Olympics 2020 chief asserted that the spike in COVID-19 cases in Japan was not linked to the Olympics. The Olympics has seen 11,000 athletes from 206 countries descend upon Japan.

Nevertheless, Japan still has a low positivity rate at around 72 positive tests from around 350,000, including athletes and other stakeholders. This shows the positivity rate at 0.02 percent.

Tokyo, which is the centre-stage for the grand sporting event saw 3,058 new cases on Sunday, up from 1,763 new infections registered a week ago. A day before, Tokyo registered its record single day number of 4,058 infections on Saturday.