Tokyo Olympics to prevent viewers from other countries from the risk of Stem Covid-19

Tickets sold to foreign viewers will be returned, organizers said. About 600,000 tickets were sold to people based outside Japan and around 4 million to people in Japan.

“Our first priority was, is and remains the safety of all participants in the Olympic Games and, of course, the Japanese people to whom we owe so much respect,” said the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach.

Japan was much less affected than the United States and many western countries by the coronavirus, with less than 9,000 deaths. The spread of new variants of the virus has raised concerns in Japan that an influx of visitors to the Olympics could accelerate Covid-19 cases.

Public opinion polls have consistently shown that the majority of Japanese people prefer the Games to be postponed again or canceled, rather than held this year. Concerns about the spread of the virus are the main concern.

A mid-March poll in the Mainichi newspaper revealed that 49% of respondents wanted the Games postponed or canceled, while 45% were open to holding them this year, as scheduled. Of the latter group, most thought that foreign spectators should be barred. The poll left no room for error.

Japan has just started to launch the vaccine, but the Games’ organizers said they would have enough social distance and hygiene measures to control the spread of the virus. The IOC said it would like the athletes to be vaccinated.

Norio Sugaya, an infectious disease specialist at Keio University in Tokyo, said that even though people coming from abroad for the Olympics are limited to athletes, support staff, media and other essential participants, infections can spread and lead to a few hundred Olympic athletes. related deaths. “Everyone wonders if this is something we need to do when taking such a risk?” he said.

The organizers did not say what would happen with the reimbursed tickets, but they could allow the general level of spectators at the event to be reduced to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus. Any reduction in ticket revenue would be a blow to Japanese organizers, who have budgeted to receive more than $ 800 million from ticket sales.

Businesses that have already been hit hard by the coronavirus, such as hotels and restaurants, will lose revenue from foreign tourists coming to Japan for the Games.

Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto said that local organizers do not intend to cover cancellation fees for flights and accommodation booked by foreign viewers. He also said that guests from sponsors of the Games can attend the event if they are involved in helping with Olympic operations, but not if they are just spectators.

The events leading up to the Games are scheduled to start on March 25 with the start of Japan’s Olympic torch relay, which will end with the opening ceremony. Preparations for the Games have been overshadowed in recent weeks by the resignation of the Tokyo 2020 president and the creative director of the opening and closing ceremonies after sexist comments.

The president of the new Tokyo 2020, Seiko Hashimoto, said that a recent modest increase in new cases of viruses in Japan has contributed to the transfer of viewers from abroad to the Games. “To ensure that we would not overburden the medical system, we had to make that decision,” said Hashimoto.

The deal was concluded at a meeting between Bach, Hashimoto, Japan’s Olympic minister, the governor of Tokyo and the head of the International Paralympic Committee. This was expected after government officials recently told the mainstream Japanese media that they would block viewers from abroad.

—Miho Inada contributed to this article.

Write to Alastair Gale at [email protected]