Japan will ban foreign fans from Olympics: report
Japan has decided that foreign spectators will not be welcome at this summer's Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics due to COVID-19 concerns, according to Kyodo news agency, who cited officials with knowledge of the matter.
The Olympics and Paralympics are scheduled for this summer, after both had been postponed for a year.
Kyodo said the government decided not to invite fans from abroad given public concerns about the coronavirus, and the detection of more contagious variants in many countries.
It also said the opening ceremony of the torch relay would be held without spectators.
Representatives of Tokyo 2020 were not immediately available for comment.
In the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang in South Korea, the last Olympic Games, international fans accounted for 20% of ticket sales.
While coronavirus infection numbers have been relatively low in Japan compared with the United States and many European countries, it has been hit hard by a third wave of the pandemic.
Tokyo remains under a state of emergency.
A Yomiuri newspaper poll showed that 77% of Japanese people do not want international visitors at the Games amid fears over a resurgence of infections.
