"Corona" pushes the Tokyo Olympics organizers to ban foreign fans

Japanese media announced today that the organizers of the Tokyo Olympics 2020 tend to prevent foreign audiences from attending the upcoming summer games due to the Corona epidemic, while a decision in this regard is expected by the end of this month.

Several local media outlets, including the "Yomiuri" newspaper, indicated that the Japanese government, Tokyo and the Olympic Organizing Committee support holding the upcoming huge sporting event between July 23 and August 8, in front of a local audience only.

Officials fear the influx of foreign visitors could put Japanese fans hesitant about staging the Games at risk.

The "Yomiuri" newspaper stated that "as the Corona virus continues to spread in all countries, (officials) have decided that allowing foreign visitors to attend on a large scale will only cause people's concern."

On Wednesday, the new chairperson of the Olympic Organizing Committee, Siku Hashimoto, announced that the committee will make its decision before the end of this March regarding the attendance of foreign audiences to the event, and will decide the number of attendees in each competition by the end of next April.

Hashimoto said that the security of the Japanese "is a priority", in an interview with reporters following her meeting with officials from the International Olympic Committee, the Japanese government and the metropolitan authorities in Tokyo.

Hashimoto indicated that the decision will be taken prior to the start of the Olympic torch march on March 25, but statements by the organizers before and after the talks indicate that the decision is heading to exclude foreign audiences. Japanese Olympics Minister Tamayo Marukawa said there was a need for a "cautious decision".

Last week, Bach announced a possible decision between late April and early May regarding the attendance of foreign fans, but Hashimoto said yesterday that fans, hotels and tour operators should be notified sooner than that.

It appears that about 900,000 Olympic tickets have been sold outside Japan.

As for tickets sold inside the country, the exact number of places available in the stands in each of the competition sites will be determined by the end of next April, based on "scientific information" and according to national guidelines, according to Hashimoto.

Tokyo is currently under a state of emergency, and sporting events are limited to 5,000 people attending the stands.

This procedure will continue until March 7, but is expected to be renewed for another two weeks, according to several Japanese media outlets.

Follow our latest local and sports news, and the latest political and economic developments via Google news