According to Andy Hoepelman, the Olympic Games can take place in a safe manner in Japan. The former water polo international, head of infectious diseases at the UMC in Utrecht, sees no major danger in the thousands of visitors who come to Tokyo from about two hundred countries because of all the strict safety and precautionary measures. “The danger to Japan mainly comes from within,” says Hoepelman.
Japan is struggling with the fourth wave of the virus and the vaccination process is slow to get going. Only 5 percent of the population has had one injection. “We have seen in the Netherlands how long it takes before vaccination is up and running and has an effect,” says Hoepelman. “The current epidemic in Tokyo is a bigger problem than the chance that the virus will come in from outside. The chance that someone infected with the coronavirus will enter Japan is not very high. And the chance that it will go unnoticed. would stay is even smaller. “
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