Official: Tokyo Olympics will be held behind closed doors

 

Olympics minister Tamayo Marukawa has announced that the Tokyo Olympics will be held without spectators due to rising cases of COVID-19 in the Tokyo area.

The decision was made at the meeting between representatives of the Japanese organising committee, the International Olympic Committee, the Tokyo authorities and the Japanese government.

“We need to issue a message which is strong and easy to understand from the point of view of preventing the further spread [of COVID-19],” said Tokyo 2020 chief Seiko Hashimoto.

International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach stressed that the committee will back all the necessary measures taken by the Japanese government in their bid to avoid the spread of COVID-19.

“We have shown this responsibility since the day of the postponement,” noted Bach.

“And we will also show it today, and we will support any measure which is necessary to have a safe and secure Olympic and Paralympic Games for the Japanese people and all the participants.”

The cases of COVID-19 have been growing in recent days and Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency in the Tokyo area this Thursday, July 8, until August 22.

The organisers of the event, which is scheduled to begin on July 23, had never ruled out holding closed-door events, despite having announced that they planned to allow up to 10,000 spectators to attend the Games.

In recent days, given the rise in cases, the authorities had already considered reducing the figure to 5,000 fans, accepting spectators with negative COVID-19 tests or even holding the games behind closed doors

Similar Articles

Comments

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular