After a drastic increase in new infections with the corona virus in Tokyo and the surrounding area, Japan has extended the virus emergency until the end of August.

This means that dark clouds are gathering over the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

It is becoming more likely that these games will also take place without spectators in the stadiums.

The Paralympic Games are scheduled to start on August 24th and last until September 5th.

The prolonged virus emergency in Tokyo now extends to the middle of the Paralympic Games.

Patrick Welter

Correspondent for business and politics in Japan, based in Tokyo.

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There is no direct connection between the virus emergency and the audience question at the sporting event. But when the government imposed the fourth virus emergency on Tokyo at the beginning of July, it was decided on the same day that the Olympic Games should take place without spectators in the stadiums. The organizers and the International Paralympic Committee postponed the decision on spectators for the Paralympic Games to the end of the Olympic Games on August 8th. They wanted to keep the hope open that spectators could still be admitted.

The first voices in Japan can already be heard, which do not rule out a cancellation of the Paralympic Games. Hiroshi Nishiura, an infectious disease specialist at Kyoto University, told a Japanese weekly that the shortage of hospital beds could make it difficult to host the Paralympic Games in August. Politically, however, it is difficult to imagine. A cancellation of the Paralympic Games would be an indirect admission that it was a mistake to go through with the Olympic Games.

On Friday, the government extended the virus emergency over Tokyo and Okinawa to the end of August and at the same time imposed similar rules over three neighboring prefectures of Tokyo and Osaka. For five other prefectures, stricter anti-corona rules apply from Monday. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is reacting to the recent rapid rise in infections to record highs. Nationwide, there were more than 10,000 new infections for the second time in a row on Friday. Tokyo reported more than 3,000 infections for the third day in a row. The seven-day incidence in Tokyo most recently reached around 125 infections per 100,000 population. Two weeks ago the incidence was below 50.