TOKYO (AP) — Fans will be banned from Tokyo-area stadiums and arenas when the Olympics begin in two weeks.
The city’s governor made the announcement on Thursday after meeting with organizers of the pandemic-postponed games. The Japanese government put the capital under a COVID-19 state of emergency because of rising new infections and the highly contagious delta variant.
It’s a serious blow for Japanese taxpayers and local organizers of the games, which already had been postponed from 2020 by the coronavirus. Hundreds of millions of dollars in ticket revenue will be lost, and that must be made up by the government.
