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- nandasharma25
Japan set to place Tokyo under emergency during Olympics: What you need to know
The Japanese government on Wednesday imposed a state of emergency to contain Covid-19 infections, 16 days before the Games get underway.
The Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed last year, is scheduled to begin from July 23 and run until August 8.
The state of emergency has been declared from July 7 to August 22, a period covering the entire duration of the Olympics.
Already there will be no foreign spectators, but this six-week state of emergency has put an end to the local audience.
Bars and restaurants will not be allowed to serve alcohol and must close by 20:00, a minister announced.
There has been widespread opposition to the Games in Japan, with calls for them to be postponed or cancelled.
The infection is surging in Tokyo as the cases increased to 920 from last week's 714 in Tokyo. The experts earlier estimated that daily cases could hit 1000 before the Games. This put the government to decide emergency.
The upcoming emergency will be the fourth for Tokyo since the pandemic began and is a last-minute change of plan made late Wednesday after a meeting of experts who warned strongly against the government's soft approach.
Just 15% of Japan population is fully vaccinated and there is rising concern over the threat of the Delta variant.