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August 26, 2021
TOKYO (Reuters) -A foreign athlete participating in the Paralympic Games in Japan has been hospitalised with non-severe symptoms of COVID-19, Kyodo News said on Thursday, citing the Games’ organising committee.
It is the first hospitalisation of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, which opened on Tuesday.
Hospitals in Japan treating COVID-19 patients have usually reserved beds for people showing severe symptoms.
The national government and the Tokyo Metropolitan government appealed on Monday to hospitals in the capital to accept more COVID-19 patients.
Less than 10% of coronavirus patients are hospitalised in Tokyo, and the low level of admissions has added to public frustration with the government’s COVID-19 response, undermining voter support for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim and Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Clarence Fernandez & Simon Cameron-Moore)