Tokyo Olympics Chief says 'full venues very difficult' amid COVID-19 surge

On Wednesday, Tokyo Olympics Chief Seiko Hashimoto warned that full stadiums would be "very difficult" at the Tokyo Olympics. The international multi-sport event is scheduled to be held from July 23 to August 8 in the capital of Japan, Tokyo. The new head of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics organising committee had said that she understands there exists great public concern over hosting the delayed Games owing to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In an unprecedented decision, overseas spectators have been prohibited from the Games. Tickets purchased by overseas fans are being refunded and organisers have also said that anyone who bought tickets in Japan is eligible for a refund if crowd numbers are cut. According to officials, this decision will take place only after the situation has been studied and considered correctly. Deliberation on setting a proportion of local spectators is due until the end of this month. As the opening ceremony is in July and the country has partially declared a state of emergency on April 25, it is highly unlikely that fans and spectators will fill the venues as in the past. 

“We have to watch the situation and consider accordingly. As of now, full venues is very difficult, I understand that," Seiko Hashimoto said.

A Japanese government minister said that COVID-19 countermeasures remain the biggest obstacle to holding the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics. At their seventh meeting to discuss COVID-19 safety for the Olympics, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuhiro Sugita said that the Japanese government is working on reviewing their studies for countermeasures as athletes and tournament officials make their way to the country. 

The government on Wednesday endorsed a policy to test all athletes participating in the Tokyo Olympics for COVID-19 on a daily basis in principle. The government’s approval of the new testing policy came hours before the organising committee released its new guidelines for participants at the Summer Games. Organisers had announced this against a previous plan for testing every four days in their endeavour to organise the grand sports event with utmost safety. 

Japan declared State of Emergency due to COVID-19

Tokyo, Osaka and several other areas came under the third state of emergency this week, and the death toll in Japan from COVID-19 has passed 10,000. The numbers are good by global standards, but poor compared with other places in Asia such as Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand or South Korea. The state of emergency has closed department stores, theme parks, and bars and restaurants serving alcohol. It also has forced baseball games to be played in empty stadiums after having allowed fans for much of the pandemic. 

Osaka, grappling with an unrelenting surge in COVID-19 cases, reported a record daily high of 1,260 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the same day Tokyo confirmed 925 infections. The caseload in Tokyo boosted the seven days average of new COVID-19 cases to 758.4, compared with 665.3 the week before. Japan has not suffered as badly from COVID-19 as other nations however, the infection rate in Japan has risen back to levels unseen since January with quite a few cases are from new variants. 

Meanwhile, only 1 per cent of the Japanese population has been vaccinated and that number would be small even when the Olympics commence on July 23. So far, officials have stated that Japanese athletes have not been vaccinated. Even Taro Kono, the minister in charge of vaccination, suggested earlier this month that empty venues seemed likely. 

Despite the spike, Olympic officials insist the Games can still be held safely, Hashimoto last week said that organisers were “not thinking about cancellation".