TOKYO — The 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo were delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic and now the delayed games will now take place under a state of emergency, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshide Suga confirmed Thursday.
Suga is declaring a state of emergency from July 12 to August 22, covering the entire Olympic Games. As of now, the Games are scheduled to begin July 23 and end August 8. Due to this, there could be no crowd at any of the events.
Tokyo reported 920 new infections for Wednesday — the highest daily caseload since the middle of May.
“The number of infected cases in the area including Tokyo has been increasing since the end of last month,” Suga said. “The number of severe cases and bed occupancy rate continues to be on the low level, but considering the impact of variants, we need to enhance countermeasures so that the infection will not spread nationwide.”
The state of emergency is the fourth for Tokyo since the pandemic began last year.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated with more information.
