Jul 08 (Japan Times) - The Olympic Games will be held during a state of emergency, the central government announced Thursday, forcing organizers to further reduce spectators two weeks before the opening ceremony as major cities struggle to stifle a growing resurgence of the coronavirus.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced Thursday that in Tokyo — where quasi-emergency measures are in place — a state of emergency will take effect Monday and last until Aug. 22. Top officials are expected to decide Thursday evening whether to ban all spectators at venues in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area.
“New cases in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area have been rising since June,” Suga said. “Stronger measures have become necessary in those areas, but could be lifted early if we see evidence of the positive impact of the vaccine rollout.”
Meanwhile, the state of emergency was extended to mid-August for Okinawa Prefecture. Quasi-emergency measures will be extended for the same period in three of the capital’s neighboring prefectures — Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama — as well as Osaka, but will expire Sunday as planned in Hokkaido, Aichi, Kyoto, Hyogo and Fukuoka prefectures.
The ongoing state of emergency in Okinawa, as well as quasi-emergency measures in nine prefectures, were slated to expire Sunday.
Dining establishments in Tokyo and Okinawa will be asked to stop serving alcohol and to close by 8 p.m. Attendance at events, which had been limited to 10,000 people, will be capped at 5,000 or 50% of venue capacity — whichever figure is lower — and the events themselves will need to end by 9 p.m.
