International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach said Tuesday that Tokyo is the "best-ever prepared" Olympic host city despite difficult circumstances stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking at a meeting with the games organizing committee held 10 days before the opening ceremony, Bach added, "The Japanese people can have confidence in all the efforts we are undertaking to make these games for them secure and safe, with all the intensive, most strict COVID countermeasures."

"We are sitting in one boat and we are rowing together with full force in the same direction," Bach said as he met with committee head Seiko Hashimoto for the first time in person since his arrival in Tokyo last Thursday. "Our common target is a safe and secure games for everybody."

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach is pictured during his courtesy visit to Seiko Hashimoto, head of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee, in the Japanese capital on July 13, 2021, wearing a mask amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Pool photo) (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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