Up to 10,000 fans are to be allowed at events at the Tokyo Olympics, organizers said yesterday, adding that the Games could be moved behind closed doors if COVID-19 infections surge.
The decision, just weeks before the opening ceremony, ends months of speculation about whether domestic spectators would be able to attend the Games. Overseas fans were banned in March.
A lottery is to determine which existing holders of tickets can attend a Games that would be unlike any other, with cheering banned, masks mandatory and fans told to go straight home after events.
Photo: AFP
“In light of the government’s restrictions on public events, the spectator limit for the Olympic Games will be set at 50 percent of venue capacity, up to a maximum of 10,000 people in all venues,” organizers said in a statement.
A decision on spectators at the Paralympics has been delayed until July 16, a week before the Olympics open.
Officials left open the possibility of a reversal of policy if COVID-19 infections rebound. Tokyo was under a state of emergency until Sunday.
“If there should be major dramatic change in the infection situation, we may need to revisit this matter among ourselves and we may need to consider the option of having no spectators in the venues,” Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said.
Senior medical experts, including top advisers to the government, have said holding the Games behind closed doors would be “ideal” from a health perspective.
They fear crowds of fans could fuel a new surge in infections in a nation still racing to vaccinate its residents.
Organizers said that it was unlikely that negative COVID-19 tests would be required to attend.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, speaking before the announcement, said that he was “absolutely sure that it will be a decision to best protect the Japanese people and all participants.”
There is some wiggle room on the cap, with organizers allowing sponsors and others dubbed “stakeholders” to attend above the 10,000 limit.
They said those spectators would travel separately from the public and pose less of a risk, but declined to specify how many people would come under that group.
Schoolchildren invited as part of a special program also would not count toward the cap.
The decision means Tokyo 2020 needs to take back 910,000 of the 3.64 million tickets held by domestic fans.
Organizers say strict rules would keep both athletes and the public safe, and Bach said that “well over” 80 percent of people staying in the Olympic Village would be vaccinated.
In a taste of the complexities ahead, a coach on Uganda’s Olympic squad tested positive on arrival in Japan on Saturday.
The team had reportedly been vaccinated and would have had to test negative before traveling.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors