Brazilian Health Minister: “No Scientific Grounds” To Move Olympics

Brazilian Health Minister Richard Barros said there are no grounds for changing the venue of the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this August in reply to a TASS question on Friday.

“No scientific grounds exist for changing the venue for holding the Olympics,” Barros told reporters.

Barros said he hoped that athletes who refused to participate in the Olympics due to concerns about the Zika virus would reconsider their decision.

“In actual fact, we’ll be one of the regions with the least spread of the virus [during the Olympics],” the Brazilian health minister said.

“As compared to Brazil, August in many countries where Zika is present is the height of summer and the season that facilitates an increase in mosquitoes, for example, in Caribbean countries, which thousands of tourists visit. The probability of contracting the virus is much higher there than in Rio de Janeiro where winter will continue,” the health minister said.

The Zika virus was first isolated in 1947 in the Zika forest of Uganda, and once it began to rapidly spreading throughout Brazil and other countries in North and South America last May it became a more widely discussed topic with the upcoming Olympic Games.

Currently, outbreaks have been registered in Asia, Africa, North & South America, and in the Pacific region.

Medical professionals note special concern for infected pregnant women, whose children risk developing brain-damaging microcephaly.

The Olympics are set to begin on August 5th and wrap up on August 21st.

Find the full article on the TASS website here.

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Dan
8 years ago

As a Brazilian that lives on the most dangerous area in the country concerning zika virus (northeast), I don’t believe this is a problem. Even up here it is not a huge deal and in the southeast, where the OG are going to happen, it’s even safer.

Joel Lin
Reply to  Dan
8 years ago

I believe the most certain health risk is the water where the open water swimming and boating events are. I also believe the higher risk is safety. These games lacked the financials to have a security infrastructure and a lot of advanced logistics for rehearsals / training for staff and volunteer staff. The great risk now is these “just in time Games” has safety holes. I’ve read that some entities like BBC and NBC are hiring additional security detail for their personnel in Rio. Strikes me as alarming they’d think to privately contract that.

pineapple squares
Reply to  Joel Lin
8 years ago

Not to mention if zika can result in GBS, athletes arguably have potentially a lot more at stake than a medal or a mugging.

G.I.N.A.
Reply to  Joel Lin
8 years ago

A lot of media are gay & they & their friends will be safer in Rio than Florida .They may get mugged but not mown down .

G.I.N.A.
Reply to  G.I.N.A.
8 years ago

Brazil never started wars & had to bring their collaborator scum back .If you are going tobe attacked in Brazil it will be by a genuine Brazilian for good old fashkkned monetary gain.

Irish Ringer
Reply to  G.I.N.A.
8 years ago

So ISIS is friendly to Brazil is what you are trying to say?

G.I.N.A.
Reply to  Irish Ringer
8 years ago

Joel did a good thing to bring up Olympic security – i am not attacking him . You read it here first -there is a link between the orlando shooting & the olympics That Brazil does not have..

Just weeks before London , the UK Govt brought in the Army to do ALL security instead of the contractors G4. Why? G$ may have complied wit the contract or not but the English public said they could not distinguish between the company personnel & terrorists. (English had the train bombings so are not naive).

The Orlando Guy (I’m not even going to learn his name ) was a 9 year trained security personnel from G4 with access to their crowd… Read more »

taa
Reply to  Joel Lin
8 years ago

Is Barra Olympic park going to require everyone to go through a medal detector before they are allowed to enter? If someone can find out the answer to that we will know how serious they are about security. Otherwise their security plan is to have the police just stand around with their fingers crossed.

Maverick
8 years ago

What are the odds the Olympics would get move/cancelled?

Joel Lin
Reply to  Maverick
8 years ago

Zero. That ship sailed a year ago when it became abundantly clear there were health, safety and security (because of $$$$ on safety and training of staff) issues that showed a crisis coming. And now here we are. Anybody trust what the Brazilian government has to say now?

Irish Ringer
Reply to  Joel Lin
8 years ago

The reality is that very few nations can afford to host an Olympics and for most it takes years to prepare and leaves them with huge debt once the games are over. The primary options for relocation would be to host it in multiple locations or pick somewhere that has hosted them recently and still has the infrastructure. You are right, that ship sailed a while ago. They aren’t moving it 1-2 months out.

With that being said no I wouldn’t trust their government. All governments will tell the population what’s in the governments best interest not necessarily that of the citizens or tourists. They want that Olympic revenue and probably need it after all the money they’ve sunk into… Read more »

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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