Japan warns fans not to cheer during the Olympics to prevent Covid surge

Thousands of fans will be allowed into venues to watch the Tokyo Olympic Games next month, but they will be told not to cheer or even speak loudly. Organizers are limiting numbers to a maximum ten thousand spectators with venues only half full, though that's going against the advice of scientists. The decision could be reversed if corona virus infections surge higher, Rupert Winfield Hayes Reports from Tokyo.

The spectator limit on the Olympic games will be set at 50 percent of venue capacity up to a maximum of 10000 people. That is very much not what the medical experts have been advising. Just last week, they said having no spectators would be much the safest option. The worry isn't really what the crowds do inside the stadiums, it's what they might do afterwards. People here in Tokyo are already thoroughly sick and tired of the pandemic.

You can see it in places like this, people drinking late into the night in bars that are openly flouting the Covid regulations. And the Olympics will be a signal to everybody that it's okay to go out and celebrate. That's what public health expert Kenji Shibuyais worried about. My biggest concern is we have not yet suppressed or even eliminated Covid transmission locally. And you know, we just lifted the state of emergency despite we have a pretty large number of cases in Tokyo still, there is a local transmission. And if we, you know, send an inconsistent signal that we should celebrate the Olympic. Then people, you know, people will be confused, and we see, you know, larger risk of local transmission. The hope is the Olympics will look something like this football match. the stands half full spectators obeying the rules. But with infection rates rising again in Tokyo, the next big wave of Covid may hit just in time for the opening ceremony on 23, July.

Rupert Winfield Hayes BBC News in Tokyo.

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