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Japan Considers Plan to Limit Spectators at Olympics Opening Ceremony

VOA News

   The number of spectators at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics
   will be limited to a handful of VIP, orVery Important
   Personsdignitaries,and Olympic officials due to concerns over the
   rising number of new COVID-19 cases in the capital, according to a
   Japanese newspaper.

   A report in Tuesday's edition ofthe Asahi Shimbunnewspaper says the
   idea is part of a larger plan that would also include banning visitors
   from attending events at large venues and at night.

   Organizers of the Tokyo Olympics announced back on June 21 that it
   would allow just 10,000 people, or 50%of a venue's capacity, at all
   events, despite health experts advising the government that banning all
   spectators was the "least risky" option for holding the Games.

   TheAsahi Shimbunreportedthe revised changes to thenumber
   ofspectatorsallowedwould be negotiated between the government and
   officials with the International Olympic Committee.

   Tokyo and several other prefectures were initially placed under a state
   of emergency in April due to a surge of new COVID-19 infections in the
   Japanese capital and across the country. The surge prompted staunch
   public opposition against staging the Olympics, especially among a
   prominent group of medical professionals that urged Prime Minister
   Yoshihide Suga to call off the Games.

   The prefectures transitioned last month from the state of emergency
   into "quasi-emergency" measures that are set to expire on July 11, just
   12 days before the Olympics opening ceremonies. But the government is
   expected to extend the quasi-emergency after a meeting on Thursday,
   with a decision about the Olympics to follow.

   Prime Minister Suga has previously said he would not rule out banning
   all spectators from attending the Olympics if the situation takes a
   turn for the worse.

   The Tokyo Olympics are set to take place after a one-year postponement
   as the novel coronavirus pandemic began spreading across the globe.
   Foreign spectators have already been banned from attending the event.

   This report includes information from theAgenceFrance-Presse and
   Reuters.

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