Olympic Games organisers cap spectators at 10,000 per venue

Olympic Games organisers on Monday limited the number of spectators that will be allowed at each venue of the 2020 Tokyo Games at 10,000.

The news followed a warning from experts that holding the event without fans was the least risky option during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Limits for the Games, which were scheduled to begin on 23 July, "will be set at 50% of venue capacity, up to a maximum of 10,000 people," organisers said in a statement. Spectators from overseas were still set to be banned.

Regulations could change after 12 July, depending on whether authorities decided to implement any state of emergency or other anti-infection measures, the statement added.

Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said to reporters: "In the event a state of emergency was declared then we can't rule out not having spectators.”

His remarks came even as Japan was trying to hold off a big wave of coronavirus infections that had led the general public to oppose hosting the games in the coming weeks.

IOC President Thomas Bach said the vaccination rate for athletes and officials residing in the Olympic village was now "well above 80%", exceeding the IOC's initial expectations.

Japanese Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa said: "In the interest of putting the public's mind at ease, we'd like to continue to ask the IOC to proactively make public the vaccination rate of Olympics officials that will be arriving from overseas.”