TOKYO : Organisers are set to ban all spectators from the Tokyo 2020 Games, the Asahi newspaper said on Thursday, as Japan declared a coronavirus state of emergency for the capital that will run throughout the event.
The ban will be formally decided during talks on Thursday, the newspaper said, citing people involved in the Games, as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said it was essential to prevent Tokyo, where the highly infectious Delta COVID-19 variant was spreading, from becoming the source of another wave of infections.
If confirmed, the ban would all but rob the Tokyo Games, which are scheduled to run from July 23 to Aug. 8, of their last hope for pomp and public spectacle.