TOKYO: The Tokyo Olympics will allow some local fans to attend when the games open in just over a month, organizing committee officials and the IOC said on Monday.

The decision was announced after so-called Five Party talks online with local organizers, the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, the Japanese government and the government of metropolitan Tokyo.

The decision contradicts the country’s top medical adviser, Dr. Shigeru Omi, who recommended last week that the safest way to hold the Olympics would be without fans. He had previously called it “abnormal” to hold the Olympics during the pandemic.

The Tokyo Games are set to open on July 23.

Local organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto said it was important to acknowledge the uncertainty around the pandemic during the games.

“We need to be very flexible. If there is any abrupt change in the situation, we will hold five-party meetings again to make other decisions,” Hashimoto said. “If there is an announcement of a state of emergency during the games, all the options like no-spectator games will be examined.”

Fans from abroad were banned several months ago. Officials say local fans will be under strict rules. They will not be allowed to cheer, must wear masks, and are being told to go straight home afterward.

Organizers say between 3.6-3.7 million tickets are in the hands of Japanese residents.

Having fans in the venues presents a risk of spreading the COVID-19 infections, and not just at the venues, since it causes more circulation on commuter trains, in restaurants and other public spaces.

Tokyo and other areas are under “quasi-emergency” status until July 11. This replaced a tougher full state of emergency that was in effect until last weekend. The new rules will allow restaurants to serve alcohol during limited hours.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who has favored allowing fans, said before the official announcement that he would bar fans if conditions change.

“If a state of emergency is necessary, I will be flexible and open to no fans in order to achieve that the games give top priority to safety and security for the people,” Suga said. ”In case of a state of emergency, it is quite possible … for safe and secure (games) I will not hesitate to have no fans.”

He said he took “seriously” Omi’s recommendations but did not follow them.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike also said before the the talks that fans may need to be banned if conditions changes.

“Under this COVID-19 pandemic, people in Tokyo, people in Japan, are feeling very uneasy. We have concerns and the experts are also making recommendations about the risk of spreading the infection,” Koike said. “If there should be a major change in the sanitary situation, or infection situation, we need to revisit this matter among ourselves and we may need to consider the option of having no spectators in the venues.”

In recent polls, support seems to be increasing for holding the Olympics, though opposition is strong, depending how the question is worded. An Asahi newspaper poll of June 19-20 of almost 1,500 people showed 62% supported another postponement or cancellation of the games. But about one-third supported holding the Olympics, up from 14% in May in the same poll.

In the same survey, 83% said they “feel uneasy” that the Olympics might spread the virus. The poll said 53% wanted no fans and 42% said attendance should be limited.

The seven-day average for new infections in Tokyo is about 400 daily. The curve has flattened but health officials fear the Olympics and new variants will drive it up.

About 6.5% of Japanese are fully vaccinated, and 16.5% have had at least one shot, according to figures from the prime minister’s office. More than 14,000 deaths in Japan have been attributed to COVID-19.

TOKYO: Japan is set to announce a decision Thursday to ease a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and six other areas this weekend, with new daily cases falling just as the country begins making final preparations for the Olympics starting in just over a month.

Japan has been struggling since late March to slow a wave of infections propelled by more contagious variants, with new daily cases soaring above 7,000 at one point and seriously ill patients straining hospitals in Tokyo, Osaka and other metropolitan areas.

Daily cases have since subsided significantly and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is expected to downgrade the state of emergency when it expires on Sunday to less stringent measures.

Despite concerns by medical experts and the public over the potential risks of holding the Olympics, Suga has said he is determined to hold a “safe and secure” Games starting July 23.

Holding the Olympics before elections in the fall is also a political gamble for Suga, whose support ratings have tumbled over dissatisfaction with his handling of the pandemic, a slow vaccination drive and a lack of explanation how he intents to ensure the virus doesn’t spread during the Olympics.

Experts at a virus panel meeting Thursday gave preliminary approval for government plans to downgrade the emergency in Tokyo, Aichi, Hokkaido, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Fukuoka.

“We must do everything we can, and provide firm financial support as well,” said Dr. Shigeru Omi, head of a government COVID-19 panel.

At a parliamentary Health and Labour Committee last week, Omi cautioned that holding the Olympics in the middle of the pandemic is “abnormal” and warned that it would increase the risk of infections.

The measures will remain in Okinawa, where hospitals are still overwhelmed, while Hiroshima and Okayama will be taken off the list.

Suga is expected to announce a final decision later Thursday.

Japan does not enforce hard lockdowns and the state of emergency allows prefectural leaders to order closures or shorter hours for non-essential businesses.

Those that comply are compensated and violators fined.

Stay-at-home and other measures for the general population are only requests and are increasingly ignored.

Ryuji Wakita, the director-general of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases who heads a government COVID-19 advisory board, said infections have decreased in many areas, but the slowing has bottomed out in the Tokyo region.

He warned that infections could increase and that signs of a rebound are already seen among younger people.

Even as more people are getting the jabs and most of the country’s 36 million senior citizens are expected to be fully inoculated by the end of July, younger people are largely unvaccinated and infections among them could quickly burden hospitals, Wakita said.

“In order to prevent another upsurge, it is crucial to prevent the people from roaming around during the Olympics and summer vacation,” he said.

Experts say it is crucial to accelerate the vaccine rollout for the Olympics to be safe.

Suga has opened up mass inoculation centers and started vaccinations at major companies, part of an ambitious target of as many as 1 million doses per day.

As of Tuesday, only 5.6% of Japanese were fully vaccinated.

In hard-hit Osaka in western Japan, hospital capacity has improved and new infections dropped to 108 on Tuesday, down from more than 1,200 a day in late April.

In Tokyo, new cases are down to around 500 per day from above 1,100 in mid-May.

Tokyo Gov Yuriko Koike has said effective virus measures need to be kept in place.

Paris: Talented and tenacious as they come, Novak Djokovic was not about to concede a thing after dropping the first two sets of the French Open final against his younger, fresher foe, Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Djokovic looked diminished and depleted at the outset Sunday. By the end, he was at his imperious best.

The top-seeded Djokovic came all the way back to beat the fifth-seeded Tsitsipas 6-7 (6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 for his second championship at Roland Garros and 19th Grand Slam title overall.

Djokovic is now just one major trophy away from tying the men’s record of 20 shared by Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. And reigning Australian Open champion Djokovic now stands halfway to a calendar-year Grand Slam, something no man has accomplished since Rod Laver in 1969.

The 34-year-old Djokovic eliminated 13-time French Open champion Nadal a challenge the Serb likened to scaling Mt. Everest in a semifinal that lasted more than four hours Friday night.

That was only Nadal’s third career loss in 108 matches at the clay-court major tournament.

Djokovic also defeated Nadal in Paris in 2015 before losing that year’s final, and it appeared as if the same fate was waiting Sunday.

Djokovic looked drained early, and the 22-year-old Tsitsipas had the upper hand for two sets.

“It was not easy for me, both physically and mentally,” Djokovic said, “especially over the past two or three days.

Eventually, though, Djokovic started making fewer mistakes, got his best-in-the-game returning on track and served so flawlessly down the stretch that he did not face a single break point over the last three sets.

That enabled him to complete his sixth career comeback from two sets down and second of the past week.

Indeed, the International Tennis Federation said Djokovic who trailed 19-year-old Lorenzo Musetti two sets to none in the fourth round is the first man in the professional era to win a Grand Slam tournament after twice facing a 2-0 deficit in sets.

Experience could have been a factor, too.

This was the first major final for Tsitsipas and 29th for Djokovic, who also won the French Open in 2016, along with nine titles at the Australian Open, five at Wimbledon and three at the U.S. Open.

Of just as much, if not more, significance to the ultimate outcome Sunday: Djokovic entered the day with a 34-10 record in five-setters including a men’s-record 31 wins in Grand Slam matches of that length while Tsitsipas was 5-4.

On a sunny and breezy afternoon, with the temperature approaching 80 degrees Fahrenheit (over 25 degrees Celsius), Tsitsipas needed just over 100 minutes to grab a big lead Sunday.

A supreme returner and imposer of his will, Djokovic grabbed early breaks of serve in each of the third, fourth and fifth sets.

Shadows were spreading across the court as the sun descended in the early evening and, though Djokovic complained that the artificial lights were switched on, he shined when it mattered the most.

This was another match that lasted more than four hours, and Djokovic was up to the task again.

COPENHAGEN: The European Championship game between Denmark and Finland was suspended Saturday after Christian Eriksen needed urgent medical attention on the field near the end of the first half. Eriksen was given treatment for about 10 minutes after collapsing on the field before being carried off on a stretcher. UEFA then announced the game had been suspended “due to a medical emergency”.

Eriksen had just played a short pass when he fell face-forward onto the ground. His teammates immediately gestured for help and medics rushed onto the field. Eriksen was given chest compressions as his teammates stood around him in a shielding wall for privacy.

The Finland players huddled by their bench and eventually walked off the field while Eriksen was still getting treatment, as did the referees. Eriksen was eventually carried off to a loud ovation, with his teammates walking next to the stretcher.