Two weeks before the Olympics, Tokyo announces a new emergency

July 23 inauguration of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. There is not much that is the same when it comes to the Olympic Games.

On Thursday, the Japanese government announced that it is announcing a new emergency for the host city that will apply throughout the games.

Exactly what restrictions are involved is still unclear. But at previous emergencies, Tokyo has undergone three, the public has been urged to stay at home as much as possible. Restaurants and karaoke bars have been forced to close earlier and have withdrawn serving alcohol. There does not seem to be any Olympic fuss. People will be encouraged to follow the games from home. The government wants to avoid parties with alcohol.

– How to prevent people from being entertained by the Olympics and going out for a drink is most important, said Japan’s Health Minister Norihisa Tamura.

Even in the stands, it can be a quiet Olympics. Already have audiences from abroad have been banned. Now the question is whether even the maximum of 10,000 domestic spectators per competition that it was previously said would be allowed in will be allowed.

The games will be held at the same time as the number of new cases in covid-19 increases in Tokyo. On Wednesday, 920 new infections were reported, which was the highest daily figure since May. Several of the cases are said to be of the infectious so-called delta variant, which is a cause for concern.

Japan has done relatively well during the pandemic. The death toll of 14,800 is relatively small compared to a population of 126 million.

Men vaccinationskampanjen in the country got off to a slow start and many residents are worried that the Olympics will start a new wave of infection. So far, around 27 percent of Japanese have received one injection, 15 percent have received two, and now some are warning that the Olympics will be a super-spreading event.

To counteract this, the organizers’ plan is to lock the games in a bubble. Neither participants and their followers nor journalists will be allowed to move around the city. It will be forbidden to travel by public transport and the Olympic bubble is directed to eating at some selected restaurants.

Men The population of Japan is critical. Frequent protests have been held against the games and an opinion poll in the newspaper Asahi Shimbun conducted in June shows that over 80 percent want them to be canceled or postponed once more, in fact they should have been held in 2020.

Of the participants already has arrived at the Olympics, four have tested positive for covid-19 and are now kept isolated. The Olympics will be inaugurated on July 23 and run until August 8.

Read more:

Summer Olympics in Tokyo – the games that residents want to avoid

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