“It’s still a big issue for us to secure as much 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, in March, took the unprecedented step of postponing the Olympics by one year 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.
Even before the postponement, the Olympics had gone above the initial budget with almost $13 billion already spent, according to the organisers.
The COVID-19 countermeasures will include PCR testing infrastructure, setting up a clinic, as well as creating remote coverage set-ups 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.
