Tokyo’s 4th State of Emergency: Olympic spectators to be barred
A 4th state of emergency in Tokyo will run throughout the Olympic Games, to combat a surge in coronavirus. Venues in Tokyo and other areas near the capital city will not be allowed to hold events with fans during the Games.
With a $5.9 billion budget and a decade of planning behind it, the Olympics in Tokyo had been expected to draw more than 600,000 tourists, then foreign spectators were ruled out in March, but the organisers had intended to allow stadiums and arenas in Tokyo to be filled to half capacity with residents of the city. More than 3.5 million tickets had been brought by people in Japan to see the Games.
However, the surge in the virus delta variant has forced the organisers to create a state-wide spectator free bubble in Tokyo and surrounding areas in order to maintain some level of control. With the coronavirus spreading rapidly across the city of Tokyo, a 4th state of emergency was announced after a meeting between the organising committee, the government and the International Olympic Committee — including barring spectators from venues that hold events in Tokyo and other areas near the capital city.
Even the Olympic torch-lighting ceremony, which usually takes place amid much fanfare and scheduled to occur this week is in part to be replaced with a series of ceremonies that would be closed to the public.
Although bars and restaurants in and around the city will not be allowed to serve alcohol and must close by 20:00, there is still concern in Japan that with athletes, coaches, and media crew coming from overseas, with so many different covid variants the virus will explosively spread again.
Medical experts in Japan welcomed the decision to hold the Tokyo Olympics without spectators under coronavirus restrictions but cautioned that the ban will not completely eliminate the risk of a rebound in COVID-19 cases.
Events taking place in stadia in the regions of Fukushima, Miyagi and Shizuoka are still currently to be permitted to have spectators up to 50% of capacity and up to 10,000 people.
