Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Wednesday, in a meeting with the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, pressed for enforcement of COVID-19 measures during the Tokyo Olympic events, Kyodo news reported
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2021) Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Wednesday, in a meeting with the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, pressed for enforcement of COVID-19 measures during the Tokyo Olympic events, Kyodo news reported.
"As the host of the games, I do hope the IOC will make efforts so that all athletes and stakeholders will fully comply," Suga was quoted as saying.
The meeting took place amid public anxiety about hosting a global event in a city that is in its fourth state of emergency due to a new wave of coronavirus infections.
However, the IOC president assured that tight measures are in place as he promised to "not bring any risk to the Japanese people," Bach said as reported.
As part of its COVID measures, the Olympics committee had earlier banned spectators from most of the events during the global events scheduled to run from July 23-August 8.
On Monday, Tokyo declared the fourth state of emergency due to a steady rise in positive COVID-19 cases over the past three weeks. The state of emergency will be in place until August 22, which means it will cover the entire duration of the Olympic Games.
The Tokyo Olympic Games will gather an estimated 19,000 athletes and 41,000 accompanying persons. Spectators not exceeding 50% of available seats and 10,000 people per stadium will only be allowed in the prefectures of Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi, and Shizuoka.
The Paralympic Games are scheduled to start on August 24 and end on September 5.
