Officials in Jpan have confirmed that up to 10,000 fans can attend events at this summer’s Tokyo Olympics, according to the Sierra Leone Chef De Mission, Unisa Deen Kargbo.
The Games, which were already delayed by 12 months due to the global health crisis, have been dogged by controversy due to the number of COVID-19 cases in Japan.
The country’s vaccination programme is far behind its European counterparts, as well as the US, and there have been fears that all events would take place behind closed doors.
Now organisers have fixed spectator limits for events at 50% of a venue’s capacity, with a hard cap at 10,000.
The country’s top health officials however had previously called on organisers to hold events behind closed doors in order to prevent the spread of the virus.
While spectators will be permitted, it has also been confirmed that if a state of emergency or other priority measures are imposed after July 12, restrictions on spectator numbers will be imposed.
From that point on, crowds at events will be based on the content of the state of emergency or other relevant measures in force at the time.
Spectators have been told to refrain from shouting or speaking loudly and must travel direct to the venue and return immediately home afterwards.
‘In light of the government’s restrictions on public events, the spectator limit for the Olympic Games will be set at 50 per cent of venue capacity, up to a maximum of 10,000 people at all venues,’ a statement read.
‘If there is any abrupt change in the situation, we will be holding a five-party meeting to make decisions,’ they continued.
‘If there’s an announcement of a state of emergency, all options will be examined by the stakeholders.’