The Olympic torch relay foreshadows health prevention measures for the Olympic Games this summer

The start, Thursday, March 25 in Fukushima, of the Olympic torch relay illustrated, life-size, what the daily life of the Olympic Games should look like next summer. The preventive measures against the risk of SARS-CoV-2 contamination promise to be strict, and heavy.

If this ceremony took place without an audience, all participants had to complete, in the seven days preceding it, a daily health monitoring document, with temperature measurement and indication of possible symptoms of Covid-19.

The document mentioning this information had to be presented at each event, where the temperature was nevertheless again recorded. It must also be completed until the seventh day following the event.

The torchbearers, for their part, had to refrain from any outing in the two weeks preceding the start and be tested several times. The 10,000 torchbearers will have to, ” in principle “, running masked, except “If they maintain a distance between them. This applies to the runners accompanying them ”, according to the directives governing the relay.

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The rigor will also apply to the public throughout the course of the flame. Only duly registered inhabitants of the municipalities crossed will be able to attend the relay, with the obligation to limit encouragement to modest applause.

The 600 personalities to take part in the relay will not run on the roads but in parks and schools, and their route will not be revealed until thirty minutes before the start. If too large a crowd forms, the event may be canceled. If the relay must go through a department subject to the state of health emergency linked to the coronavirus epidemic, it will be canceled and replaced by a simple ceremony.

Repeated and fortnightly tests

These measures around an event before “Bring hope to all of Japan”, according to the president of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, Seiko Hashimoto, reflect the fear of the organizers at the risk of infection.

“It is difficult to obtain the support of the public if we are not able to react quickly and correctly to the risk of contamination”, says Toshiro Muto, the director general of Tokyo 2020, in charge of the prevention against the pandemic for the relay.

As a result, each Olympic event is subject to strict measures. During the visit, in November 2020, of the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, a very specific route was reserved for him in his hotel, as well as an elevator.

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