The Athletes Village in Japan for the delayed Olympics will be used to house the patients of COVID-19. (Image via Asahi Shimbun)

Athletes Village to house COVID-19 patients

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Business & Industry
Medical and Health
Apr 04, 2020
1602
The under-construction Athletes Village was said to be helpful if it could be used temporarily to house the patients of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, hinted at the possibility of the building, aiming to house up to 11,000 Olympic and 4,400 Paralympic athletes and staff in its 24 buildings during the postponed Tokyo Games.

The complex is expected to remain empty with the Olympics delayed for 16 months. Koike said that the Athletes Village will be considered as one of the options. However, since it is still under construction, Koike said that the government is checking out other places one by one.

The 5,600 units in the Athletes Village, a joint venture involving 10 major companies and the city of Tokyo, was supposed to be renovated after the Olympics and sold. From the number, almost 1,000 are now for sale or sold with the price between US$500,000 to US$2 million. Occupancy would begin in 2023.

Since the Olympics is postponed, the next challenge for the organizer is to line up the Athletes Village with the 40 sports venues. The postponement itself costs between US$2 billion and 6 billion and the Japanese taxpayers will bear the burden of it.

The Tokyo organizers said that the spending was only US$12.6 billion with US$5.6 billion from the public. However, the audit said otherwise.

Currently, Japan had reported at least 3,300 cases with 74 deaths. On Thursday, Tokyo reported 97 new cases.

Source: https://bit.ly/39J4O4y

Business , Medical , Health , Sports , Asia , Japan , Tokyo , Athletes-Village , COVID-19 , Quarantine