Last Updated on: 8th July 2021, 04:25 pm
Japan has placed Tokyo in a state of emergency that will last until the Olympics, amid fears that a sustained outbreak of COVID-19 could multiply during the Games.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the state of emergency will come into effect on Monday and will last until August 22. This means that the Olympics, which will open on July 23 and run through August 8, will only take place under emergency measures.
Suga said the state of emergency was necessary to “prevent the resurgence of the future spread of cases across the country.”
The announcement came when the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, arrived in town two weeks before the opening of the postponed Games.
Bach largely avoided the cameras at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and made his way to the Olympic Games venue of the Tokyo International Olympic Committee, a five-star hotel in the city center. The objective of the emergency is a demand for the closure of bars, restaurants, and karaoke rooms that serve alcohol.
Banning the serving of alcohol is an important step in easing Olympic celebrations and preventing people from drinking and partying.
Tokyo residents are expected to face requests to stay home and watch the games on TV from their homes.
“How to prevent people enjoying the Olympics from going out for drinks is a key question,” said Health Minister Norihisa Tamura.
The current state of emergency ends on Sunday. Tokyo also reported 920 new cases on Wednesday, up from 714 the week before.
This was the 18th consecutive day of weekly increases and the highest since 1,010 were reported on May 13.
Fans from overseas were banned from participating in the Olympics months ago.
But only two weeks ago, the organizers and the IOC decided to fill the rooms to 50%, but not more than 10,000 people. The state of emergency will force them to change their plans again and a decision is expected to be made later Thursday.
The increase in the number of cases likely means that the sites will not have viewers, although sponsors and others can access them. The atmosphere without fans could include the opening ceremony in the national stadium.
The rise in infections has also forced the Tokyo city government to remove the Olympic Torch Relay from the streets of the capital so that it will only operate on remote islands off the coast of Tokyo.
It is not known how the torch will enter the stadium for the opening ceremony.
“The infections are in their phase of expansion and everyone in this country needs to be aware of their severity,” said Dr. Shigeru Omi, senior government medical adviser.
He urged authorities to act quickly against the strict measures ahead of the Olympics as the summer recess approaches.
Dr. Omi has repeatedly called for a spectator ban, saying it was ‘abnormal’ to hold the Olympics during a pandemic.
The Olympics are going against most medical advice, in part because the postponement halted the IOC’s revenue stream.
About 11,000 Olympians and 4,400 Paralympics are expected to enter Japan with tens of thousands of officials, judges, administrators, sponsors, speakers, and media.
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As per the IOC, more than 80 percent of the inhabitants of the Olympic Village will be vaccinated. Nationally, there have been around 810,000 cases and nearly 14,900 deaths in Japan.
Only 15 percent of Japanese are fully vaccinated, which remains low compared to 47.4 percent in the United States and almost 50 percent in the United Kingdom.
