Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Olympics Games will go ahead as scheduled in the summer of 2021, it was confirmed today by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Thomas Bach, head of the International Olympic Committee, following a meeting in the Japanese capital.
The Games, which were supposed to take place from July 24 to August 9, were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead they will open on 23 July and close on 8 August next year; the Paralympics will take place from 24 August to 5 September.
Bach said he is confident that spectators will be able to attend the events scheduled in Tokyo. He also promised that the IOC will step up efforts to vaccinate all competing athletes.
Suga specified that a final decision on the presence of foreign spectators will be taken next spring. He explained that if so, visitors arriving from countries with few cases of infection will be exempted from quarantine obligations. No isolation measures are foreseen for athletes and staff of competing teams.
According to estimates, the postponement of the Olympic Games cost Japan 640 billion yen (€ 5.2 billion). With nearly 17,000 cases and around 1,900 deaths, the country has so far managed the health emergency effectively. In recent days, however, the number of infections has increased, causing the authorities to fear the arrival of a new wave of infections.
