The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games recently announced that it would limit spectators to just 10,000 people per venue. However, with a recent spike in Covid-19 cases and as Tokyo is set to go into another state of emergency starting Monday July 12 that will last for six weeks, the Olympic organisers and the Japanese government have instead decided to hold the Games without any spectators.
As reported by Kyodo News, the call was made on July 8, just two weeks before the start of the Games, right after the government’s decision to declare a new state of emergency in Tokyo. The emergency, which will be in place during the Games, is currently scheduled to end on August 22, two weeks after the Olympic closing ceremony on August 8.
With this decision, Olympic events in Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama will all be held behind closed doors with no fans in the stands. However, venues in other parts of Japan including Fukushima, Miyagi and Shizuoka prefectures will continue to allow up to 10,000 spectators.
Olympic venues in Ibaraki prefecture, located just north of Tokyo, will also ban general spectators with the exception of students watching as part of school programme. For events scheduled to be held in Hokkaido, the prefecture is still undecided on whether to admit fans into the venues.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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