Tokyo Olympic Games: When are they and will they go ahead?

The Tokyo Olympics are due to start in less than two months, despite a surge of Covid cases in Japan.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) insists the games will go ahead, even though Tokyo is currently in a state of emergency.

When and where are the Olympics?
The 2020 Summer Olympic Games are scheduled to take place in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, between 23 July and 8 August 2021. The Paralympics Games are due to take place between 24 August and 5 September.

Like many other events, they were postponed because of Covid.

The Olympic Games involve 33 competitions and 339 events held across 42 venues. The Paralympic Games feature 539 events across 22 sports hosted at 21 venues.

Most events will be held in the Greater Tokyo area. Some football games and the marathon are due to take place in Sapporo in Hokkaido, which is also currently under a state of emergency.

The marathon was moved from Toyko over concerns about the likely temperature in the capital.

What’s happening with Covid in Japan?
Japan has had relatively low numbers of Covid cases, but a new wave of infections began in April. Since last year there have been around 720,000 cases and 12,200 deaths.

As a result of the surge, large parts of the country are under a state of emergency until the end of May, with some areas facing restrictions until 20 June.

Japan only began vaccinating people in February, later than most other developed nations.

So far, only about 2.9m people – or 2.3% of the Japanese population – are fully vaccinated.

A mass vaccination programme began in late May in Tokyo and Osaka, the two cities hit hardest by the surge. Authorities hope over-65s will be fully vaccinated by the end of July.

Agencies