IATF OKs training of national athletes in bubble environment

Athletes eyeing to compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics may now resume training in a bubble setup to ensure their safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) on Monday gave its approval to the request of the Philippine Olympic Committee regarding the resumption of training.

“[T]he conduct of the training in a ‘bubble-type’ setting shall be made in coordination with the Regional Task Force where the training shall be conducted and the local government unit with the jurisdiction of the proposed venue,” the IATF said in a resolution.

The 32nd Summer Olympics was scheduled for this year but was moved to July 2021 due to the pandemic.

In September, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told the United Nations General Assembly that his country is determined to host the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games “as proof that humanity has defeated the pandemic.”

There is no cure yet for COVID-19, but countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States have already approved the use of Pfizer-BioNTech’s experimental vaccine. — Virgil Lopez/RSJ, GMA News