Officials say the Olympics will be held without foreign spectators this summer, after 900,000 tickets have already been sold outside the country.

More than three quarters of Japanese people polled are opposed to foreign spectators coming to Tokyo for the Olympic fortnight.

The Tokyo Olympics will take place without spectators from abroad, due to fears related to the Covid-19 pandemic, Japanese media said Tuesday, citing officials on condition of anonymity.

"It was agreed on March 3, 2021 during the meeting of the five (Japanese government, Tokyo municipality, Games organizers, IOC and International Paralympic Committee, editor's note) that a decision concerning spectators coming from abroad would be taken at the end of March ", reacted Tuesday the International Olympic Committee (IOC), requested by AFP.

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On March 3, at the end of this meeting, the president of the organizing committee Seiko Hashimoto even specified that a decision would ideally be taken before the start of the Olympic torch relay in the country on March 25.

An exception for guests?

According to

Kyodo News

, the Japanese government has already concluded that it was "not possible" to allow supporters living outside Japan to attend the Olympics, due to "the concerns of the Japanese public about the coronavirus" and the makes "more contagious variants detected in many countries".

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According to the daily

Asahi Shimbun

, the IOC has asked Japan to make exceptions for foreign guests linked to the sponsors of the competition, with the government considering the request.

Safety will be the "top priority" of the Games, organizers said.

The event, which was scheduled to take place last year but has been postponed for a year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, is scheduled to begin on July 23 and end on August 8.

A decision made this month

Around 900,000 tickets have already been sold outside of Japan.

Organizers are due to officially rule on the issue this month, according to Japanese media.

The trend is to exclude foreign spectators, they had already reported after a meeting between these bodies last week.

Some 77% of Japanese are opposed to the presence of audiences from abroad at the Tokyo Olympics because of the current health crisis, according to a poll by the daily

Yomiuri Shimbun

published on Monday.

Tokyo-2020 President Seiko Hashimoto said on Friday that the organizers "really want to hold the event in full stadiums with supporters from all over the world," but they will have a hard time "if we are not able. to welcome them and if the situation of the medical facilities is not perfect ".