Virus cases found at Olympic hotel as IOC chief vows to minimise risk

A coronavirus cluster at a Japanese hotel where dozens of Brazilian Olympic team members are staying has raised new concern about infections at what the world's top Olympics official promised would be "historic" Games.

Just over a week before the opening ceremony, new cases linked to the Games and spiking infections in the host city highlight the risks of staging the world's biggest sports event during a pandemic even without spectators in sports venues.

Seven staff at the hotel in Hamamatsu city, southwest of Tokyo, had tested positive for the coronavirus, a city official said. But a 31strong Brazilian Olympic delegation, which includes judo athletes, are in a "bubble" in the hotel and separated from other guests and have not been infected.

The host city Tokyo, where a state of emergency has been imposed until after the Games end on August 8, also recorded 1,149 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, the most in nearly six months.

Highly contagious virus variants have fuelled the latest wave of infections, and failure to vaccinate people faster has left the population vulnerable.

Medical experts are worried that Olympic "bubbles", imposed by Tokyo 2020 Olympic officials in an effort to keep out Covid-19, might not be completely tight as movement of staff servicing the Games can create opportunities for infection.

The Olympics,

postponed last year as the virus was spreading around the world, have lost much public support in Japan because of fears they will trigger a surge of infections.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach praised the organisers and the Japanese people for staging the Games in the midst of the pandemic. "These will be historic Olympic Games ... for the way how the Japanese people overcame so many challenges in the last couple of years, the great east Japan earthquake and now the coronavirus pandemic," Bach told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

Suga asked Bach to ensure that the Olympics will be safe, particularly for the Japanese public, of which fewer than 20% are fully vaccinated.