Quarantine rules could be lifted for overseas spectators at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus, organizers said on Thursday, as optimism grows about holding the event with audiences.
Travel for athletes and officials will be severely restricted for two weeks after entering Japan, but this will be difficult for spectators to implement, said Toshiro Muto, general manager of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee. since the number of foreign spectators is very high, around fourteen and a ban on the use of public transport are unrealistic, ”he told the press after a meeting of the organizing committee.
Instead, "pre-testing, health surveillance, careful screening at the border, post-entry checks (and) rapid action if symptoms appear" are part of the anti-Covid package being considered in Tokyo, he added.
The Tokyo Olympics are due to open on July 23, 2021 after a historic one-year postponement decided in March of this year following the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Decisions on the number of spectators at the Olympics next year or on the rules for the public will be taken next spring, Mr. Muto said Thursday.
Japanese and Olympic officials are more confident, especially since the successful organization of two test competitions in recent weeks in Tokyo (baseball and gymnastics).
“After seeing the various tests in Japan, we can be more and more confident that we will have a reasonable number of spectators also at the Olympic venues,” said Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday.
Towards a ban on cheering or shouting?
"How much and under what conditions, it will depend (...) a lot on future developments" of the health situation, added Mr. Bach, who will travel to Japan early next week for the first time since the postponement of the Games.
Access to Japan is currently closed to almost all foreign tourists due to the pandemic, which is on the rise in Europe and the United States in particular.
During a gymnastics competition last Sunday, around 2,000 spectators were subjected to severe restrictions (masks, hand disinfection, temperature measurement, ban on shouting to avoid spilling postilions).
Muto said similar measures were being considered by Olympic organizers, while questioning "the practicality and feasibility" of a ban on cheering.
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