Tokyo 2020 Athletes’ Village reopens prior to Paralympic Games
Tokyo 2020 Athletes’ Village reopened, a week before the start of the Paralympics, as Japan continues to wrestle with a rise in COVID-19 infections.
The first delegations for the Games arrived at the 44-hectare village in the capital’s Harumi waterfront district.
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As was the case with Olympians, residents at the village will be required to undergo daily COVID-19 testing, wear face masks and observe physical distancing.
But since some Paralympic athletes may have a higher risk of suffering severe symptoms due to underlying health conditions, the organisers have said they will focus on enhancing safety at the village.
Tokyo has been under a COVID-19 state of emergency since July 12.
It has reported record numbers of daily infections in recent weeks, with the figure nearly tripling from before the start of the Olympics on July 23.
Similarly to the Olympics, there was no special event to welcome the delegations as they entered the fenced-off complex.
During the Relay, flames lit in different parts of the country and in Stoke Mandeville in Britain – the birthplace of the Paralympic Movement – were merged into one.
The Shizuoka event combined flames lit in 35 towns and cities in the prefecture.
The Paralympic fever will be felt in Tokyo as the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) has announced that the aerobatic flight team, Blue Impulse, are set to perform a flyover on August 24, the opening day of the Paralympic Games.
The TMG has also said it is planning to install the Paralympic symbol off the shore of the Odaiba Marine Park on Thursday (August 19).