Tokyo: International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach arrived in Tokyo on Thursday and Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency on the same day due to the rise in cases of corona virus infection in the capital. Local spectators were banned from entering the Tokyo Olympics.
Olympic Minister Tamayo Mourakawa told Japanese news agency Kyodo that local spectators would not be allowed to attend the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed due to the Covid-19 epidemic. The Olympics will be held from 23 July.
The spectator ban was announced by the IOC and Japanese organisers, so the games will now be limited to TV. Spectators coming from abroad were banned from coming for the Olympics months in advance.
Prime Minister Suga said the emergency would take effect from Monday and would last until August 22. This means that the Olympic Games, to be held from 23 July to 8 August, will be held under complete emergency measures.
Suga said that the emergency was necessary to prevent the re-spreading of cases of corona infection across the country. He said, ‘Keeping in mind the effect of the delta strain, we need to increase the measures to prevent the virus to prevent the spread of infection in the country.’
At Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, Bach was seen evading the cameras and headed straight to the IOC’s sports headquarters in Tokyo, a five-star hotel in the heart of the city. They will have to stay in isolation for three days.
