Are mega-events super spreaders of infectious diseases similar to COVID-19? A look into Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics to improve preparedness of next international events

Tamal Chowdhury; Hemal Chowdhury; Elza Bontempi; Mario Coccia; Hasan Masrur; Sadiq M. Sait; Tomonobu Senjyu

doi:10.1007/s11356-022-22660-2

Are mega-events super spreaders of infectious diseases similar to COVID-19? A look into Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics to improve preparedness of next international events

Tamal Chowdhury
, Hemal Chowdhury^*
, Elza Bontempi
, Mario Coccia
, Hasan Masrur
, Sadiq M. Sait
, Tomonobu Senjyu

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

Tokyo Summer Olympics and Paralympics have raised social issues regarding the potential rise in COVID-19 cases in Japan and risks associated with the safe organization of mega sporting events during the pandemic, such as the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. This study investigates the Tokyo Summer Olympics as a unique case study to clarify the drivers of infectivity and provide guidelines to host countries for the safe organization of subsequent international sporting events. The result here reveals that Tokyo and Japan did not experience a rise in confirmed cases of COVID-19 due to the hosting of the Summer Olympics. Still, transmission dynamics seems to be mainly driven by the high density of population (about 1.2%, p-value <0.001) like other larger cities in Japan (result confirmed with Mann-Whitney U test, significance at 0.05). Our study provided evidence that hosting mega sporting events during this COVID-19 pandemic is safe if strictly maintained the precautions with non-pharmaceutical (and pharmaceutical) measures of control of infections. The Tokyo Summer Olympics hosting will be exemplary for next international events due to the successful implementation of preventive measures during COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	10099-10109
Number of pages	11
Journal	Environmental Science and Pollution Research
Volume	30
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22660-2
State	Published - Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Keywords

COVID-19
Crisis management
Japan
Pandemic preparedness
Response policy
Sporting events

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Environmental Chemistry
Pollution
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1007/s11356-022-22660-2

Cite this

Chowdhury, T., Chowdhury, H., Bontempi, E., Coccia, M., Masrur, H., Sait, S. M., & Senjyu, T. (2023). Are mega-events super spreaders of infectious diseases similar to COVID-19? A look into Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics to improve preparedness of next international events. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 30(4), 10099-10109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22660-2

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abstract = "Tokyo Summer Olympics and Paralympics have raised social issues regarding the potential rise in COVID-19 cases in Japan and risks associated with the safe organization of mega sporting events during the pandemic, such as the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. This study investigates the Tokyo Summer Olympics as a unique case study to clarify the drivers of infectivity and provide guidelines to host countries for the safe organization of subsequent international sporting events. The result here reveals that Tokyo and Japan did not experience a rise in confirmed cases of COVID-19 due to the hosting of the Summer Olympics. Still, transmission dynamics seems to be mainly driven by the high density of population (about 1.2\%, p-value <0.001) like other larger cities in Japan (result confirmed with Mann-Whitney U test, significance at 0.05). Our study provided evidence that hosting mega sporting events during this COVID-19 pandemic is safe if strictly maintained the precautions with non-pharmaceutical (and pharmaceutical) measures of control of infections. The Tokyo Summer Olympics hosting will be exemplary for next international events due to the successful implementation of preventive measures during COVID-19 pandemic crisis.",

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Chowdhury, T, Chowdhury, H, Bontempi, E, Coccia, M, Masrur, H , Sait, SM & Senjyu, T 2023, 'Are mega-events super spreaders of infectious diseases similar to COVID-19? A look into Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics to improve preparedness of next international events', Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 10099-10109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22660-2

Are mega-events super spreaders of infectious diseases similar to COVID-19? A look into Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics to improve preparedness of next international events. / Chowdhury, Tamal; Chowdhury, Hemal; Bontempi, Elza et al.
In: Environmental Science and Pollution Research, Vol. 30, No. 4, 01.2023, p. 10099-10109.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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