Tokyo Olympics to bar spectators from overseas to tribal Covid-19 risk

Tickets sold to overseas spectators will be refunded, organizers said. About 600,000 tickets were sold to people outside Japan and about 4 million to people in Japan.

“Our first priority was, is and remains the safety of all participants in the Olympic Games, and of course the Japanese people to whom we have so much respect,” said the International Olympic Committee’s Thomas Bach.

Japan was far less affected than the US and many western countries by the coronavirus, with fewer than 9,000 deaths. The spread of new variants of the virus has deepened concerns in Japan that the visit to the Olympic Games could accelerate the Covid-19 cases.

Opinion polls have consistently shown that a majority of Japanese prefer the Games to be postponed or canceled again, rather than being held this year. Concerns about the spread of the virus are the biggest concern.

A poll by the Mainichi newspaper in mid-March found that 49% of respondents wanted the Games to be postponed or canceled. Of the latter group, foreign spectators must have thought the most. The poll did not give a margin of error.

Japan has just begun rolling out vaccines, but organizers of the Games said they would have adequate social distance and hygiene to control the spread of the virus. The IOC has said it wants athletes to be vaccinated.

Norio Sugaya, a specialist in infectious diseases at Keio University in Tokyo, said that even if people coming from abroad for the Olympics are limited to athletes, support staff, media and other essential participants, can spread and lead infections. to a few hundred Olympic-related deaths. “Everyone wonders if this is something we should do if we take such a risk?” he said.

The organizers did not say what would happen to the refunded tickets, but they could allow the overall spectator levels to be lowered to reduce the risk of virus transmission. Any reduction in ticket revenue would be a blow to the Japanese organizers, who budgeted to receive more than $ 800 million from ticket sales.

Businesses that have already been hit hard by the coronavirus, such as hotels and restaurants, will lose their revenue by foreign tourists coming to Japan for the Games.

Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto said local organizers do not intend to cover cancellation fees for flights and accommodation booked by overseas spectators. He also said that guests of sponsors of the Games will be able to attend the event if they are involved in the Olympic operations, but not as spectators.

The events leading up to the Games will begin on March 25 with the start of the Olympic torch relay around Japan which will end with the opening ceremony. The build-up to the Games has been overshadowed in recent weeks by the resignation of the president of Tokyo 2020 and the creative director for the opening and closing ceremonies after sexist remarks.

The new Tokyo 2020 president, Seiko Hashimoto, said that a recent modest increase in new virus cases in Japan has contributed to the shift to bar spectators coming from abroad for the Games. “To make sure we were not causing a burden on the medical system, we had to make this decision,” Hashimoto said.

The agreement was completed during a meeting between Mr. Bach, mr. Hashimoto, the Japanese Olympic Minister, the Governor of Tokyo and the Head of the International Paralympic Committee. This was expected after government officials recently told major Japanese media that they would block spectators from abroad.

—Miho Inada contributed to this article.

Write to Alastair Gale by [email protected]