Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has spoken out in favor of admitting Japanese spectators to the Olympic Games and Paralympics in Tokyo. “We are working on this matter, listening to different opinions and considering a corresponding recommendation,” said the controversial head of government because of his failed corona policy, according to the daily Yomiuri Shimbun on Friday, “we would then also like to lift the corona emergency for the time being.”
This state of emergency in the Olympic city of Tokyo and nine other prefectures was extended on Friday for a further three weeks to June 20, just under five weeks before the start of the Summer Games (July 23 to August 8). What is certain is that foreign spectators are not allowed to attend the Olympics.
Suga supports his optimism with the current experience in sport: “Even in a state of emergency, baseball and soccer games are held with measures to prevent the spread of the infection,” said the politician. “I believe that we can deal with the situation by ourselves refer to these examples. ”
In order to curb the spread of infections in the country, they want to reduce the number of people arriving during the games. “The number of visitors expected to come to Japan in connection with the Olympics has so far been set at 59,000 and for the Paralympics at 19,000. We will request a further reduction,” said Suga.
Japan is currently fighting vehemently against the fourth wave of the corona pandemic. The number of vaccinations lags far behind compared to other industrialized nations. So far, too few vaccine doses from BioNTech / Pfizer have been available. With the approval of the vaccines from Moderna and AstraZeneca, the vaccination rate is now to be increased. In addition, the EU has agreed to provide Japan with more than 100 million cans.
Due to the sometimes devastating conditions, a large part of the Japanese population is against the hosting of the games, which have been postponed this summer from 2020. Opponents of the Olympics are putting pressure on them with petitions, the doctors’ association has spoken out against holding the summer games, as has the daily Asahi Shimbun, which is itself an official partner of the major event.
