Sydney (AFP)

Nothing can prevent the Tokyo Olympic Games from taking place as planned, despite the Covid-19 pandemic still ongoing, said Vice-President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), John Coates on Saturday.

Asked by AFP on whether a scenario preventing the holding of the Olympics (23 July-8 August) was possible, Mr. Coates replied: "no, there is not".

"The Prime Minister of Japan told the President of the United States two or three weeks ago and continues to tell the IOC. We are working with him on all security measures. This is moving forward," he continued.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga held talks in April with US President Joe Biden during which he stressed that his country was doing everything possible to contain the pandemic and to organize the Games in complete "safety".

The World Health Organization (WHO) assured Friday to trust the International Olympic Committee, Japan and the host city Tokyo, to make the right choices in the management of the pandemic.

"We spent the first half of last year identifying the worst possible scenarios" and then "we spent the next six months identifying measures to deal with" the health crisis, he told reporters in Sydney, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Australian Olympic Committee.

- prolonged state of emergency -

Thursday, the Pfizer and BioNTech laboratories announced that they had concluded a memorandum of understanding with the IOC to provide vaccines against Covid-19 for athletes and delegations from all countries participating in the Tokyo Olympics.

"We have worked hard to put in place procedures that ensure the safety of athletes through testing (...) reinforced by the fact that all athletes around the world now have access to the vaccine," assured Mr. Coates.

"All the precautions we have taken are aimed at the health of the athletes and the health of the Japanese people," he insisted, denying that the IOC puts sport and financial considerations before health.

But Mr Coates also admitted that there was concern that the Japanese public was not fully involved.

“I think there is a correlation between the number of people who are worried about their safety and the number of people who have been vaccinated in Japan,” he said.

"However, the number of people (vaccinated) is very low, especially among the elderly. So I think the situation will improve as the vaccine is rolled out in Japan," he said. valued.

Faced with a still worrying health crisis in Japan, the government on Friday extended the state of emergency for three weeks in four departments, including Tokyo, and two additional departments will join this device.

© 2021 AFP