The head of a Japanese doctors’ union warned on Tuesday that holding the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer, with tens of thousands of people from around the world, could lead to the emergence of an “Olympic” strain of the coronavirus. Japanese officials, Olympics organisers and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have all vowed the Games will go ahead, albeit under strict virus-prevention measures. “All of the different mutant strains of the virus which exist in different places will be concentrated and gathering here in Tokyo. We cannot deny the possibility of even a new strain of the virus potentially emerging,” he told a news conference. “Mutation takes place when virus stays in immunocompromised or partially immunised people for a long period of time,” Shibuya said.

Source: The Star May 27, 2021 07:41 UTC