Tokyo Games could lead to Olympic coronavirus variant - Japanese doctor

FILE PHOTO: Security personnel stand guard near the Olympic rings monument during a rally by anti-Olympics protesters outside the Japanese Olympic Committee headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Tokyo, Japan May 18, 2021. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

TOKYO (Reuters) - The head of a Japanese doctors' union said on Thursday that holding the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer, with tens of thousands of people from around the world, could lead to the emergence of an "Olympic" coronavirus strain.

Japan has pledged to hold a "safe and secure" 2020 Olympics in Tokyo after a year-long postponement but is struggling to contain a fourth wave of infections and preparing to extend a state of emergency in much of the country.