Only 0.02% tested positive within the Olympic community: IOC chief

The 2020 Olympic Games are the most restricted sporting event ever in the world, as the Olympic village probably is the most tested community in the world, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach claimed here on Friday, reported Xinhua.

With the Tokyo 2020 reaching the halfway mark Friday, the IOC chief expressed his satisfaction over the Games so far during a group interview with IOC's recognized international news agencies.

"I think we can be very satisfied with the results of our countermeasures, the playbook, the worldwide initiative for vaccination, for all the games participants," said Bach.

"Now we have to be on alert every day. We cannot say now after Day 7 of the Olympic Games that this fight against the virus is over."

COVID-19 infections totaled 3,300 in Tokyo on Friday, after hitting a record 3,865 a day earlier. The Japanese government broadened a state of emergency to four more prefectures and extended Tokyo's until the end of August from Aug. 22.

"This is an effort day by day, and this is why we have the daily test. Altogether, we are now at about 350,000 tests for the Olympic community with a positive cases by only 0.02 percent. This is very low," Bach noted.

Held in Tokyo without spectators and after a year's delay because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Games have been a unique experience for all the participants.

The IOC president thought it was an unfortunate but necessary situation, saying that the emotions are really taking over.

"If you are at the venues, you can feel and see the same passion they have in the Olympic village, where there are so excited being here, finally being together again, finally being able to compete again and to have Olympic Games," said Bach.

"Unfortunately the Japanese people can only share this Olympic spirit on TV, but we think they're making great use of it and are adaptive to the situation.

"Almost 90 percent of the Japanese population, in the meantime, has switched on the Olympic Games and it's following the Olympic Games. I think there is no better evidence about the real feelings of the Japanese people that towards these Olympic Games," he added.

The German showed his appreciation toward the Japanese people. "The Japanese do not only switch on when it comes to Japanese athletes, but also, the Japanese people as a very fair public, they also turning on to the other athletes and cheering them on," he said.