Tokyo Olympics to spend US$900 million on COVID-19 measures: Organisers

TOKYO: Organisers of the Tokyo Olympics will spend US$900 million on measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 at next year's Games, they said on Tuesday (Dec 22), as they unveiled their latest budget for the delayed event.

The organisers repeated their projection that the total cost of the postponement, including the COVID-19 countermeasures, would come to about US$2.8 billion, bringing the entire cost of holding the Games to about US$15.4 billion.

"We want to build the best possible system by continuing to interact with the relevant organisations of doctors and nurses," Tokyo Olympics chief executive Toshiro Muto told reporters.

"It's still a big issue for us to secure as many medical staff as we hope for when faced with a situation where private medical institutions are struggling with management because of the coronavirus," Muto said.

The organisers took the unprecedented step of postponing the Olympics in March because of the pandemic and the government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who has declared he will host the Olympics "at any cost", is pressing ahead with the preparations.

READ: Tokyo governor sees 'no circumstances' for cancelling Olympics

READ: Olympics: Breakdancing included in Paris 2024 to reach out to youth, says Games Chief

The Games are the legacy of the ex-premier Shinzo Abe, who resigned in September. Under his watch, Japan secured the Olympics and invested billions of dollars in their organisation, having gathered more than US$3 billion in domestic sponsorship.

Even before the postponement, the Olympics had gone above the initial budget with almost US$13 billion already spent, according to the organisers.

The COVID-19 countermeasures will include polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing infrastructure, setting up a clinic, as well as creating remote coverage setups and countermeasures at food and drink processing centres, the budget summary showed.

Some of the extra costs would be covered by additional sponsorship and insurance, organisers said this month. They would also tap a contingency fund detailed in last year's budget to cover some costs.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments

Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram​​​​​​