Two weeks ahead of Tokyo Olympics 2020, Japan declared a state of emergency in Tokyo during the event.  

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Thursday said that COVID-19 state of emergency for Tokyo would begin on Monday, 11 days before the Summer Games open, and last until August 22.  The Olympics end on August 8.

Suga said that the state of emergency in Tokyo was needed considering the effect of COVID-19 variants and the need to prevent resurgence of the future spread of coronavirus cases across the country.

A formal decision is expected later on Thursday.

As per reports, organisers are considering banning all spectators from the Tokyo Games. Overseas spectators have already been barred from attending the Olympics and the organisers have set a cap on domestic spectators to 10,000 people or 50 per cent venue capacity.

This will be Tokyo's fourth state of emergency since the COVID-19 pandemic .

Japan has reported about 810,000 cases and 14,900 deaths. Only 15 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated so far, the reports said.