Tokyo records highest daily Covid cases in 6 months just before Olympics

Tokyo, Jul 15 (EFE).- The Japanese capital on Thursday reported 1,308 fresh Covid-19 infections, the highest daily number of cases in the city since January, just eight days before the inauguration of the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.

The Tokyo metropolitan government reported over 1,000 daily cases for the second consecutive day, with the figures showing a growing trend for nearly a months.

The city has been witnessing a major surge in cases since last week, which led to the Japanese government declaring a state of emergency in the capital to prevent the virus from spreading, with the measure mainly affecting the opening times of businesses.

After the state of emergency was imposed in Tokyo, the Olympics organizing committee, local authorities and Japanese governments had announced that the event would be held without local spectators.

Although at first the number of spectators had been limited to 10,000 people and only foreign visitors had been banned as a preventive measure, finally it was decided that the athletes would compete without any audience in the stands.

The current state of emergency in Tokyo is the fourth since the beginning of the pandemic and has been in effect since Jul. 12. The emergency is set to last until Aug. 22, coinciding with the Olympic Games, which will be inaugurated on Jul. 23.

Apart from the ban on spectators, the Games would be held amid unprecedented restrictions for the international athletes, including limits on their movement even within the Olympics zone and constant monitoring of their health, apart from other measures. EFE

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