Tokyo’s state of emergency to run through Olympics

People walk on a street in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district on Thursday. Pic/AFP

IOC President Thomas Bach arrived in Tokyo on Thursday just as a ban on spectators at the Tokyo Olympics is likely after Japan Prime Minister Yoshihde Suga announced a state of emergency because of rising Coronavirus infections in the capital. Suga said the state of emergency would go in effect on Monday and last through August 22. This means the Olympics, opening on July 23 and running through August 8, will be held entirely under emergency measures.

Suga said the state of emergency was needed to "prevent the resurgence of the future spread on cases across the country." Bach largely avoided cameras at Tokyo's Haneda Airport and, on a rainy afternoon, went to the International Olympic Committee's games headquarters in Tokyo, a five-star hotel in the centre of the city. He is reported to need to self-isolate for three days. Bach's arrival comes just two weeks before the postponed Tokyo Games are to open.

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