Olympics to ban spectators as Tokyo declares COVID-19 emergency

---

Organisers are set to ban all spectators from the Tokyo 2020 Games, the Asahi newspaper said on Thursday, as Japan declared a coronavirus state of emergency for the capital that will run throughout the event.

The ban will be formally decided during talks on Thursday, the newspaper said, citing people involved in the Games, as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said it was essential to prevent Tokyo, where the highly infectious Delta COVID-19 variant was spreading, from becoming the source of another wave of infections.

If confirmed, the ban would all but rob the Tokyo Games, which are scheduled to run from July 23 to Aug. 8, of their last hope for pomp and public spectacle.

Once seen as a chance for Japan to stand large on the global stage after a devastating earthquake a decade ago, the showpiece event was delayed by the pandemic last year and has been hit by massive budget overruns.

Organisers said they would have a news conference at 10:45 p.m. (1345 GMT) following their discussions. Organisers would "have to consider an option of no spectators," Olympics Minister Tamayo Marukawa said at the start of the talks.

Medical experts have said for weeks that having no spectators would be the least risky option, amid widespread public fears that an influx of thousands of athletes and officials will fuel a fresh wave of infections. Infections were on the rise in Tokyo, due in part to the Delta variant, Suga told a news conference, warning that that could expand to the rest of the country.

"We absolutely must avoid Tokyo being the starting point again of another spread of the infection," he said, adding that "good progress" was being made in vaccinations.

New daily cases in Tokyo could increase to 1,000 in July and 2,000 in August, raising the risk of hospitals in the capital region running out of beds, according to recent projections from Yuki Furuse, a Kyoto University professor working with the government's coronavirus experts group.