Tokyo Olympic execs start meeting, with spectator ban in spotlight

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TOKYO – The organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics said Thursday it will hold a meeting with other organizers of the games later in the day, as they need to discuss a new spectator policy amid a surge in coronavirus infections in the capital.
The meeting of the five organizers, including the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, will be held after the Japanese government decided to put Tokyo under another state of emergency until Aug. 22.
Photo taken on July 8, 2021, shows the National Stadium ahead of the July 23 opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
With the decision, the likelihood increased that there would be no spectators in the stands at venues in and around Tokyo when the games start in just two weeks' time.
IOC President Thomas Bach, who arrived in Tokyo on Thursday, is scheduled to meet remotely with representatives of the Japanese bodies, including Seiko Hashimoto, who heads the organizing committee, and Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike.
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Having already barred spectators from overseas in March, the organizers decided late last month to allow up to 10,000 local fans per venue during the Olympics on the assumption that the coronavirus situation in the capital improved.
However, Tokyo on Wednesday reported 920 new infections, registering the highest daily count since mid-May, while medical experts continue to warn of the dangers of going ahead with the games when many countries are grappling with the rapid spread of the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant first detected in India.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach waves from inside a vehicle at a Tokyo hotel on July 8, 2021, following his arrival in Japan ahead of the July 23 opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. (Pool photo) (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
On Thursday, Tokyo reported 896 new cases of the virus, exceeding the number logged a week earlier for the 19th straight day.
According to the Japanese organizing committee, Bach will quarantine at his hotel for three days. He is set to visit the athletes' village in Tokyo's Harumi waterfront district and hold meetings with the organizing body, both in-person and remotely.
The IOC is also arranging for Bach to visit Hiroshima, which was devastated by an atomic bombing in the closing days of World War II, on July 16, the starting day of an Olympic truce adopted by the United Nations.
IOC Vice President John Coates, who arrived in Tokyo earlier, is planning on the same day to visit Nagasaki, the other Japanese city hit by an atomic bomb in 1945.
Coates drew criticism in Japan in May for saying that the Olympics can be held even if Tokyo is under a state of emergency.
Title: Tokyo Olympic execs start meeting, with spectator ban in the spotlight
Sourced From: english.kyodonews.net/news/2021/07/094df0533231-urgent-ioc-chief-bach-arrives-in-japan-for-tokyo-olympics.html
Published Date: 07/09/21