Tokyo Olympics at risk if coronavirus mutates, gets stronger: Japan adviser | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Wednesday
June 07, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 07, 2023
Tokyo Olympics at risk if coronavirus mutates, gets stronger: Japan adviser

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
15 July, 2020, 06:30 pm
Last modified: 15 July, 2020, 06:34 pm

Related News

  • North Korea airs Olympics coverage days after it ends
  • Tokyo Olympics in pictures
  • Slimmed-down ceremony to open pandemic-hit Tokyo Games
  • Olympics-Tokyo kicks off games amid Covid-19 fears
  • Tokyo spectator ban leaves Olympic athletes perplexed

Tokyo Olympics at risk if coronavirus mutates, gets stronger: Japan adviser

A physician who served as a science adviser to the Japanese cabinet from 2006-2008, Kurokawa also headed an independent probe into the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Currently, he is advising the government on the coronavirus pandemic

Reuters
15 July, 2020, 06:30 pm
Last modified: 15 July, 2020, 06:34 pm
FILE PHOTO: A woman wearing a protective face mask, following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), walks past the Olympic rings in front of the Japan Olympics Museum in Tokyo, Japan March 13, 2020. Reuters
FILE PHOTO: A woman wearing a protective face mask, following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), walks past the Olympic rings in front of the Japan Olympics Museum in Tokyo, Japan March 13, 2020. Reuters

The Tokyo Olympics may have to be postponed again if the novel coronavirus mutates into a stronger pathogen, Kiyoshi Kurokawa, a prominent Japanese government adviser, said on Wednesday.

However, a recent spike in cases in Tokyo is due to a failure to stick to guidelines to prevent contagion, he said.

A physician who served as a science adviser to the Japanese cabinet from 2006-2008, Kurokawa also headed an independent probe into the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Currently, he is advising the government on the coronavirus pandemic.

"I think the virus is mutating all the time ... it may be a much stronger virus that triggers a second wave," Kurokawa told Reuters. "The Olympics may be postponed again, but I can't predict."

"I think it's small incidents happening in Tokyo ... new cases are because people are not abiding by recommendations," Kurokawa said of the current spike in infections. "But if there are some mutations, that is a completely different story. That could happen anywhere in the world."

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike told Reuters on Monday the Olympics, originally scheduled to start this month but put off to 2021 because of the pandemic, must go ahead next year as a symbol of world unity in overcoming coronavirus.

The spike in infections in Tokyo, which accounts for more than one-third of Japan's more than 23,000 cases, has prompted a backlash against a planned campaign to promote domestic tourism. Kurokawa said authorities were trying to balance priorities.

"I think one of the concerns of this pandemic is how to prevent the spreading out of this corona infection. The other side of this issue is ... how to promote the economy. Many people are losing their jobs," he said.

He added that he thought the government was "carefully balancing" the two priorities.

Kurokawa was appointed last month to head a new panel to examine how to use artificial intelligence to fight the spread of the virus. His appointment to the four-person group including a Nobel Prize winning geneticist came after Economics Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura abruptly announced he would dissolve a panel of scientific experts and remake it with new members.

The move came amid reports of clashes between the health experts and politicians.

Kurokawa said that whatever experts recommended based on science, political leaders had to make the final policy call.

"The scientific community's recommendations have to be fact-based, science-based recommendations, but politicians have to make the decisions," he said. "Scientists give advice, but decision-making is not by scientists."

Tokyo olympics

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Digital bank licence requires Tk125cr capital
    Digital bank licence requires Tk125cr capital
  • New income tax law to be hard on evaders, simplifies rules for businesses
    New income tax law to be hard on evaders, simplifies rules for businesses
  • RMG export income rises, raw material imports fall in Q1
    RMG export income rises, raw material imports fall in Q1

MOST VIEWED

  • Covid is no longer global health emergency: WHO
    Covid is no longer global health emergency: WHO
  • Federal police officers stand guard near the house of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, during a search operation at his home, in Brasilia, Brazil, 3 May, 2023. REUTERS/Adriano Machado
    Bolsonaro home raided, phone seized in Brazil vaccine records probe
  • World Health Organization logo is reflected in a drop on a syringe needle in this illustration photo taken March 16, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo
    Covid here to stay but moving out of emergency phase: WHO
  • India's active case count now stands at 3.90 per cent. ( HT file Photo)
    India reports 12,591 new Covid cases today, 20% more than yesterday
  • People queue up outside a quick test centre to take their coronavirus disease (Covid-19) antigen rapid tests, in Singapore September 21, 2021. Photo :Reuters
    Singapore witnesses new Covid wave: ‘Cases are mostly mild’
  • India's active case count now stands at 3.90 per cent. ( HT file Photo)
    India logs 5,676 new Covid cases, active infections cross 37,000-mark

Related News

  • North Korea airs Olympics coverage days after it ends
  • Tokyo Olympics in pictures
  • Slimmed-down ceremony to open pandemic-hit Tokyo Games
  • Olympics-Tokyo kicks off games amid Covid-19 fears
  • Tokyo spectator ban leaves Olympic athletes perplexed

Features

TBS Illustration

From graphic eyes to glass skin: 5 viral beauty trends of 2023

10h | Mode
Photo: Courtesy

Stride: Embracing affordable, inclusive, and heritage-inspired fashion

14h | Mode
Seba Prokashoni after QaziDa

Seba Prokashoni after QaziDa

17h | Panorama
Illustration: TBS

How to retain brains in the country

16h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Imran fears re-arrest

Imran fears re-arrest

6h | TBS World
Zlatan Ibrahimovic retires from football

Zlatan Ibrahimovic retires from football

8h | TBS SPORTS
Controversial referee Lahoz departs after receiving a guard of honour

Controversial referee Lahoz departs after receiving a guard of honour

8h | TBS SPORTS
What will happen if Payra thermal power plant is closed?

What will happen if Payra thermal power plant is closed?

8h | TBS Stories

Most Read

1
bKash denied permission to pay $4.10 lakh for Argentina football partnership
Banking

bKash denied permission to pay $4.10 lakh for Argentina football partnership

2
Photo: Noor-A-Alam/TBS
Splash

The Night Dhaka did NOT vibe with Anuv Jain

3
Boeing offers Biman its latest 787-10 Dreamliner
Bangladesh

Boeing offers Biman its latest 787-10 Dreamliner

4
Country's first floating solar power plant connected to national grid
Energy

Country's first floating solar power plant connected to national grid

5
Photo: TBS
Environment

Green space in Dhaka North declines 66% in 3 decades: Study

6
Photo: TBS
Energy

2nd unit of Payra power plant to shut down over coal shortage

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]