Japanese PM Officially Announces Tokyo COVID-19 Emergency Status During Tokyo 2020 Olympics

PM Jepang Yoshihide Suga. (Wikimedia Commons / Prime Minister's Office Homepage)

JAKARTA - The government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared Tokyo a COVID-19 emergency during the 2020 Olympics, to curb the spread of COVID-19 infection cases.

With the new status, which will take effect from Monday to August 22, all Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 will be held without spectators. According to the schedule, this time the Olympics will be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021.

"We must take stronger measures to prevent another national outbreak, also considering the impact of the coronavirus variant," said PM Suga after a task force meeting in Tokyo, Thursday evening, July 8 local time, citing Kyodo News.

PM Suga said if the situation improves as more people get injections and the strain on the medical system eases, the government will consider lifting the state of emergency early.

Meanwhile, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the International Olympic Committee (IOc) are scheduled to decide on the number of spectators allowed to attend Thursday night's meeting.

They previously agreed to allow up to 10,000 spectators, or 50 percent of the venue's capacity, whichever is less. This plan was reviewed, in line with the increase in cases of COVID-19 infection in Tokyo in recent times.

To note, this will be Tokyo's fourth state of emergency since the start of the pandemic last year, with the government setting in principle to ban restaurants from serving alcohol and maintaining its request to close at 8 p.m.