Spectators Will Be Barred at Tokyo Olympics Amid New Covid Emergency

The most recent one began in late April, and most restrictions were lifted by the end of June. Tokyo has since been under a quasi-emergency that was set to be lifted next Sunday.

The impact of Covid-19 on Japan has been relatively mild compared to the effect on the rest of the world — a success that experts attribute to ubiquitous mask wearing, among other things. The death toll, at just over 14,800, is far lower than that of the United States, and Japan has never gone into the kinds of hard lockdowns seen in places like Australia and Singapore.

But Japan’s vaccine rollout — now at more than a million doses a day — got off to a slow start, and the country has struggled with persistent moderate levels of infection.

Tokyo residents have taken each new state of emergency less seriously. Streets that were empty in June 2020 are now full of people going about their lives almost as normal — at least until evening, when bars and restaurants close early.

Still, the Japanese public has expressed widespread opposition as the Olympic organizers have proceeded with planning for the Games. Recent polls show that a large majority of people support canceling or further delaying the Olympics.

With each passing day, the possibility that the Games will be stopped becomes increasingly unlikely, regardless of the state of the virus outbreak in Tokyo. In a sign of the event’s inevitability, the International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach, arrived in Tokyo on Thursday. He had canceled a previous trip to Japan, scheduled for the spring, after the city entered a new state of emergency.

Speaking on Thursday night before the Olympic organizers’ meeting, Mr. Bach said that the strict measures taken by Japan to prevent athletes and other participants from spreading the virus “have proven to be successful.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/world/asia/tokyo-state-of-emergency-olympics.html