Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 to decide on Olympic spectator limits by end of April

Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto said on Monday that she will decide the upper limit of spectators for the Olympics and Paralympics by the end of April. "As for the upper limit of spectators, we will make a decision on that regard by the end of April. In order to flexibly address the virus situation including the state of emergency, we will work closely with the IOC, IPC, the central government and the Tokyo metropolitan government in order to gain consensus," said Hashimoto during Tokyo 2020 executive board meeting held in the capital. Hashimoto noted that she was highly aware of concern about the virus resurgence as the state of emergency has been issued in Tokyo and three other prefectures but will have anti-virus measures that address all the possible issues that may be caused by holding the games amid the pandemic. The government declared a third state of emergency on Sunday in order to curb a rapid coronavirus resurgence as well as to stop people from traveling and spreading the virus during Japan's "Golden Week" holidays. The emergency alert is scheduled to be lifted on May 11 - around a week before IOC president Bach's visit to Japan.