International spectators will be barred from entering Japan for the summer Olympics and Paralympics this summer, the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee said in a statement on Saturday.
Any tickets purchased by overseas residents for the postponed Games, scheduled for July 23, will be refunded.
The decision was made following a meeting between the “five parties” – International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Committee on People with Disabilities (IPC), Metropolitan Government (TMG), Tokyo 2020 Planning Committee and Government of Japan – IOC and the IPC said they “fully respect us and welcome this conclusion.”
The COVID Challenge
“Currently, the situation of COVID-19 in Japan and many other countries around the world remains a major challenge and has emerged in various forms, while international travel is still severely restricted to the world,” the statement said.
“Given the current state of the disease, it is very unlikely that people overseas will be guaranteed to enter Japan this summer.
“In order to make it clear to ticket holders living overseas and to enable them to adjust their travel plans at this time, teams on the Japanese side have concluded that they will not be able to enter Japan during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
Ensuring Safe Environment For Olympics
The organizers say the decision “will continue to contribute to ensuring that the Games are safe and secure for all Japanese participants and the Japanese community” and will not affect authorized Games participants, who will be required to continue following the “Tokyo Playbooks for 2020.”
Organizers were forced to postpone the Olympics for the first time in event history in March 2020 due to the coronvairus pandemic.
The Games are scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 8 and the Paralympics from August 24 to September 5.Even though the number of coronavirus cases have been low in Japan compared to the US or the United Kingdom, in recent months its health system has been overwhelmed by the worst wave of infections since the pandemic began.
The country began injecting its 126 million people with Pfizer-BioNTech shots at the end of February, more than two months after the vaccine rolled out in other major countries.
Since the outbreak began, Japan has recorded more than 455,000 cases and 8,794 deaths.
In addition to the Covid-19 problems, both the head of the Tokyo Olympics, Yoshiro Mori, and the head of the Tokyo Olympics, Hiroshi Sasaki, were forced to resign after speaking ill of women.
The games are scheduled for July 23 to August 8 and the Paralympics from August 24 to September 5.
Although the number of coronavirus cases in Japan is lower than in the US or the United Kingdom, in recent months its health system has been hampered by the worst wave of the disease since the outbreak began.
