Olympic host city Tokyo on Monday entered a fresh state of emergency less than two weeks before the Games start, amid concerns over whether the measures could stem a rise in COVID-19 cases. Organizers announced last week that spectators would be banned in almost all venues, but Japan would be denied the Games’ hopes with a public spectacle.
Viewers from overseas were banned months ago, and officials are now asking residents to watch on TV. “We will ask people to support the athletes from home,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said in a televised program on Sunday.
The Games, postponed since last year because of the pandemic, run from 23 July to 8 August, while the state of emergency – the capital’s fourth – runs until 22 August, shortly before the start of the Paralympics.
The government and organizers had long seen the event as an opportunity to showcase the country’s recovery from the devastating 2011 earthquake and nuclear crisis.
On Saturday, the governor of Fukushima Prefecture, the site of the nuclear disaster, said spectators would be banned from softball and baseball games, reversing the earlier decision. read more
World No. 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic said on Sunday he was “50-50” about attending the Tokyo Olympics, with organizers banning fans from participating and the number of people he can take to the Games. After the decision to limit Read more
Some of the biggest names in the sport including Rafa Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Stan Wawrinka, Nick Kyrgios, Serena Williams and Simona Halep have already announced their decision to leave the Games.
Japan has not seen an explosive coronavirus outbreak anywhere else but has recorded more than 815,440 cases and nearly 15,000 deaths.
Recent growth in Tokyo has been particularly worrying amid a vaccination rollout that got off to a slow start and accelerated after a spate of supply disruptions. Only 28% of the population has received at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Tokyo reported 614 new cases on Sunday, its 22nd straight day of week-on-week gains, and many areas were crowded with shoppers.
The coronavirus restrictions have called for restaurants to close early and stop serving alcohol in exchange for government subsidies, measures that have hit eateries hard and many have complained of being unfair as the sport prepares to go ahead. Huh.
Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is also in charge of the response to the pandemic, sparked outrage when he suggested late on Thursday that he would ask banks to put pressure on eateries that do not adhere to the stringent measures.
Almost face-to-face, the government’s top spokesman Kato said on Friday that it has decided not to ask banks to suppress restaurants and bars that do not comply with a government request to stop serving alcohol under emergency restrictions. .
But Kozo Hasegawa, president of Global-Dining Inc. (7625.T), which runs 43 restaurants, including one that inspired a bloody fight scene in the movie “Kill Bill: Volume I,” said on Friday that he’s following the rules. Will not comply and will open normally.
read all Breaking News, today’s fresh news and coronavirus news Here
.