The Tokyo Olympic Games suffer a new restriction: there will be no public in the stadiums, as announced this Thursday by the minister in charge of the Games, Tamayo Marukawa, reports Reuters.
The epidemiological situation in the Japanese capital has led the organizers of the competition and the Japanese authorities to take this measure 15 days before the opening ceremony.
The decision comes after the Japanese government declared a new state of health emergency in the Japanese capital on Thursday until August 22, according to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
The declaration of the state of emergency was the first step to prohibit public attendance at the venues where the competitions will be held.
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The state of emergency will enter into force on Monday, July 12 to stop the increase in covid-19 cases in the capital, Suga said after meeting with the government committee that manages the pandemic.
In practice, the measure will not make a big difference with the current situation, apart from a tightening of restrictions for businesses.
Tokyo tallied 920 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest daily number since mid-May.
The average number of daily cases during the last week in the Japanese capital has exceeded the worst level on the scale of four degrees established by the central government to assess the severity of the spread of the virus, local authorities indicated on Wednesday. Suga indicated this Thursday that the increase in infections is due in part to the transmission of the delta variant, a variant of the virus discovered in India at the end of 2020 and up to 60% more contagious.
The restrictions and setbacks that these Games have suffered began in 2020, when they had to be postponed for a year due to the pandemic. In addition to the extra costs that have been incurred, last April the organizers announced that the arrival of public from abroad would not be allowed. On June 21, and contrary to what a very broad segment of Japanese public opinion and health authorities requested, the competition organizers announced that stadium seating was reduced by half, with a maximum limit of up to 10,000 national spectators per venue with one condition that a new state of emergency is not declared again.
Fearing that the quadrennial sports event will become a super contagious event, part of the Japanese population, unions of health personnel and doctors and, even the media, have demonstrated in recent months against its celebration and They even asked the authorities to consider postponing them for another year.
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