TOKYO — Overseas spectators will be barred from attending the Tokyo Summer Olympics Games in an attempt to lessen pandemic risks, the games’ organizing committee said Saturday.
Tickets purchased by overseas residents will be refunded, it said in a statement.
“The fact that the spectators are not able to attend the games from abroad, that is very disappointing and it’s regrettable,” Seiko Hashimoto, the president of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, told a news conference. “But given the current stance of covid-19 and the situation we are seeing in Tokyo, and also in order to make sure that we do not cause any inconvenience to the medical situation, we had to make the decision and we have to ensure a safe and secure environment for all the participants. It was an unavoidable decision.”
The Games were postponed last year because of the pandemic, and opinion polls show a majority of Japanese people say they should not go ahead in the summer.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is strongly encouraging athletes, coaches and officials to get vaccinated before coming to Japan, and has accepted an offer from China to supply vaccines to any Olympic delegations in need of doses. For each vaccine supplied to a participant, the IOC will pay for two more doses for ordinary people in that country.
While athletes can largely be confined in training camps and the Olympic Village, the prospect of a horde of foreign spectators wandering around Tokyo had scared many people.
Hashimoto has said a decision on limits for domestic spectators would be made by the end of April, in accordance with expert advice and government guidelines on spectators. Japan has allowed limited numbers of spectators to attend sporting events through the pandemic, albeit with bans on cheering, shouting, singing and drinking alcohol.
The IOC issued its first “Playbook” for the Tokyo Games last month, indicating that participants will be tested before departure and on arrival, and be expected to avoid social interaction when possible and steer clear of public transport. Spectators will be allowed to clap but asked not to cheer or shout to avoid spreading virus particles.
The government says it hopes to secure 100 million doses of coronavirus vaccines by the summertime, enough to cover roughly five million health workers and 38 million people over the age of 65 but still leaving most of the country’s 126 million still unprotected.
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