Tokyo 2020: Government set to peg spectator limit at 10,000

Japan is set to allow up to 10,000 spectators to attend sporting events when the existing state-of-emergency measures come to an end, raising the prospect of fans featuring at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Tokyo and some other parts of Japan remain under a state of emergency imposed in late April.

The Japanese Government is due to decide this week whether to lift it, as planned, on Sunday (June 20).

Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japan’s Economy Minister and the elected official in charge of the country’s COVID-19 response, announced plans for a change in the cap in attendances at sporting events today.

read alsoTokyo 2020 Trials: Senegal, Ivory Coast Arrive Lagos For Invitational Relays

According to Kyodo News, Nishimura said the Government plans to limit spectators to 10,000 or 50 per cent of the venue’s capacity, whichever is lowest, in areas where the state of emergency has been lifted.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is scheduled to hold  from July 23 to August 8.

In a poll on the Games  32 per cent responded to the survey by suggesting attendance should be limited at the Games, while 29 per cent said the Games should be held behind closed doors.

The poll also found 31 per cent of respondents were in favour of cancelling the Games, while three per cent supported holding the event as originally planned with no cap on spectators.

A total of 42 per cent said they were “not very convinced” over the COVID-19 countermeasures, with 27 per cent “not convinced at all”.

This is compared with 23 per cent who are “somewhat convinced” and two per cent who are “very convinced”.