Paralympic torch relay events begin in Tokyo as COVID concerns linger

"as COVID concerns linger"

Great use of the English language there, linger? How about "as COVID spreads out of control"?

.... and all the 'disabled' who live 'normal' lives get no sponsorship, no endorsements, no VIP treatment, no glory.... just battle on in the day-to-day while no-one pays attention, or is aware of how hard it must be.....

"concerns linger", "worries remain", "alarming" rise in Covid cases ...???

As @Mr Bogglesworth said above, they sure want to paint this as some kind of pyschological state, not something that causes pregnant mothers to be denied medical care, a newborn babiy to die in its home, thousands of people stranded at home, in hotels, in an ambulance as hospitals refuse to treat them, people to suffer unattended as the medical system is overrun, health workers to suffer burnout from the relentless, unending pace of severe cases, so-called 'oxygen stations' to be set up as hospital care is denied to sick people, the age of people getting seriously unwell keeps dropping. All of this more than any previous point in the pandemic. They call that 'lingering'? Are they mad? It's a bit like that other classic we've been treated to lately, 'they died while 'recovering'/'recuperating' at home'.

I'm watching baseball right now on TV.

Why are there crowds there, but not at the Olympics or Paralympics?

Hey, where are Thomas Bach and John Coates? Where's that "Olympic movement" spirit? Where's are those symbolic gestures at memorials by the swinging sticks at the IOC? Please don't tell me that it's all about the money after all, and that physically challenged athletes just don't draw the big bucks.