Tokyo Olympics Officially Bans Spectators Over COVID Concerns

Tokyo Olympic organizers announced on Thursday that spectators will be banned from the games after the Japanese government declared a state of emergency in Tokyo due to rising COVID cases.

The International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Government of Japan made the determination in response to the state of emergency currently in place. The members agreed in June to restrict spectator numbers at the Games in the event of a public measure put in place to prevent the pandemic spread.

Under the new announcement, no spectators will be allowed in any venues in Tokyo during the Olympic Games. If the number of infections changes drastically, organizers will meet again to review the policy.

Foreign spectators had already been banned from the games and had previously limited domestic attendance to 50 percent capacity.

Japan reported 896 new COVID cases in Tokyo on Thursday, while it battled 2,246 cases throughout the rest of the country.