Tokyo 2020: For media, it is the most restrictive Olympics ever

Bengaluru, July 19: Journalists who have arived for Tokyo 2020 Games in the Japanese capital city will have to follow strict COVID-19 restrictions for the first 14 days that will severely limit their movement to their hotels and the Olympic venues, reports AP news agency.

There is also a long list of requirements they must follow including daily testing and phone location sharing.

Added to this, the prohibition of fans at competitions has dampened the normally festive atmosphere and limited the stories that media are able to report on.

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As a result, many are turning their cameras to themselves as they struggle to show what is beyond the Olympic facilities. There has already been consistent opposition from the Japanese public to holding the Olympics during the pandemic, with fears that it could become a super-spreader event and cause a spike in infections among Japanese people.

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Tokyo reported 1,008 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday (July 18), the 29th straight day that cases were higher than seven days previously. It was also the fifth straight day with more than 1,000 cases.

At the main media centre the mood is still and silent, contrasting with the normally bustling media corps that follow the Olympics. Interactions are for the most part prohibited though journalists take advantage of the much missed in person press conferences to catch up with colleagues they have not seen in a long time.

Athletes, coaches and journalists wait to receive their accreditation cards at Haneda International Airport after their connected flights from Istanbul International Airport ahead of Tokyo Olympic Games, in Tokyohttps://t.co/yzrjPPZwJA

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"It's kind of very sad because it's very quiet compared to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games," said Japanese Olympic reporter Nozomi Kunitake with the NHK who covered the previous summer Games in the Latin American country known for its vibrant carnival and music.

But in Japan, many of Kunitake's foreign peers are for now barred from visiting the city until their soft quarantine period ends.

"It's the most restrictive Olympic Games I've ever seen. We're working at the Main Media Centre here, but apart from that we can't go anywhere else," said Daniel Sutton, an Australian journalist with Network 10.

The rescheduled 2020 Olympics will open under a state of emergency in Tokyo and three neighbouring prefectures on Friday (July 23). It will run on till August 8.