Vaccination or test must for Tokyo Olympics fans

A board of Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games is displayed on the wall of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building in Tokyo. Pic/AFP

Tokyo Olympics fans may have to be vaccinated or test negative for the coronavirus before being allowed into venues, a Japanese newspaper report said Monday. Cheering, eating, high-fives and drinking alcohol would also be banned under controls now being considered, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily said, citing unnamed government officials. Organisers are set to decide in June how many spectators -- if any -- will be allowed to attend the pandemic-postponed Games. Overseas fans are already barred, and the report warned domestic spectators may be denied entrance or kicked out for breaking the rules. "The plan is to stop the spread of infections during Games time with strict countermeasures," the paper said.

Under the plan, spectators must be able to show a vaccination certificate or a negative test taken at their own expense less than a week before entering the venue. They must wear masks and fill in health-check sheets, and once inside must not cheer loudly or high-five each other. Security guards would be stationed around venues monitoring behaviour, the report said, with public viewing venues cancelled or scaled-down. Japan's vaccine rollout has been moving slowly, with less than 2.5 per cent of the population fully vaccinated so far.

Tokyo and other parts of the country are under a virus state of emergency which was extended on Friday until June 20, just over a month before the opening ceremony on July 23. The Yomiuri also published a new poll on Monday that shows 49 per cent of people living in Tokyo want the Games to go ahead, while 48 per cent want them cancelled. A total of 25 per cent said they wanted the Games to go ahead with a limited number of spectators, while 24 per cent said they wanted them to be held with no fans. A new country-wide poll by the Nikkei newspaper found that 62 per cent of respondents wanted the Games to be cancelled or postponed again, while 34 per cent were in favour of them being held this summer. Organisers have repeatedly ruled out the Games being postponed again.

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