Twenty-eight new residents and six staff members were found to be positive at a support facility for people with disabilities in Midori Ward, Sagamihara City.
One woman and five men with roots in Afghanistan, Burundi, Iran, and Syria will compete in athletics, swimming, canoe and taekwondo as members of the refugee team, which is headed by Chef de Mission Ileana Rodriguez, a former refugee from Cuba who represented the United States in swimming at the 2012 London Paralympics.
“While it is encouraging that the Olympic Games were delivered safely and successfully, those attending the Paralympic Games should not get complacent,” Parsons said. “We cannot ignore the current case numbers in Japan and Tokyo, and I urge every single stakeholder for the Paralympic Games to be vigilant.”
Lighting events will take place over the next five days in 43 of Japan’s 47 prefectures that will not stage Paralympic competitions. The locations and lighting methods have been left up to each municipality, and the flames will be brought to Tokyo later this month.
The Tokyo Paralympics are highly likely to have no spectators in principle as the novel coronavirus continues to rage, especially in the Tokyo metropolitan area, now under a COVID-19 state of emergency.
The giant floating rings monument on a concrete platform set up at Odaiba Marine Park will soon be replaced with the “Three Agitos” symbol for the Paralympics, scheduled to be held from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5.
The torch relay for the Tokyo Paralympics will be taken off public roads for Aug. 20-24 legs in the capital due to the current COVID-19 infection status, the metropolitan government said Tuesday.
The Paralympic flame will tour Shizuoka, Chiba and Saitama before the climax of the Paralympic Torch Relay from 17 August to 24 August; the day of the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
Spanning across all of Japan’s 43 prefectures as well as in Stoke Mandeville in the United Kingdom – the birthplace of the Paralympic Movement – the flame will be brought together to create a single flame at a Flame Gathering Event in Tokyo on 20 August.
Seiko Hashimoto said the highest priority was given to ensuring they were delivered in a “safe and secure” manner by putting anti-coronavirus measures in place. She refrained, however, from declaring the event a success with an eye on the approaching Paralympics.
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