International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (Mainichi/Naoaki Hasegawa)

       TOKYO -- International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach denied a causal relationship between the Tokyo Olympics and the sharp increase in coronavirus cases in Japan at a Sept. 8 news conference.

       In an online news conference held after an IOC board meeting, Bach said that there is no indication that the coronavirus was transmitted to the people of Japan from athletes and officials in the Olympic "bubble" system, and that it was a safe event.

       The bubble system, based on the Games' "Playbook" to prevent virus transmission during the event, was adopted to cut off contact between athletes and the outside world.

       For the Beijing Winter Olympics in February next year, the IOC will prepare a rulebook for infection control as it did for the Tokyo Games, and will also take advice from the World Health Organization and other bodies to prevent transmissions.

       (Japanese original by Yuta Kobayashi, Sports News Department)

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