The governor of Japan’s western region of Osaka has canceled the upcoming public Olympic torch event amid a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Olympic relay torchbearers will no longer be able to run through public streets as had been planned.
Instead, the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee confirmed the relay will now take place behind closed doors at the Expo ’70 Commemorative Park in the city of Suita on April 13 and 14.
In a statement on Wednesday, organizers said they would work to “ensure a safe environment for all torchbearers who wish to run there, with no spectators being admitted on either day.”
Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura said the speed of infection was currently “very fast” and the infection rate “very high,” declaring a state of a medical emergency in the region.
“The number of daily new cases increased four times faster this week than before. The medical system is at a very severe level,” Yoshimura said in a news conference on Wednesday.
The torch relay began its 121-day domestic journey to Tokyo on March 25 in Fukushima.
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Medical emergency
The Osaka prefectural government reported a record high of 878 daily new cases on Wednesday.
Yoshimura warned that almost 70 percent of hospital beds in the region were full and asked residents to refrain from non-essential outings.
Data shows the more contagious variants of coronavirus made up around half of the infections since the end of March.
Osaka prefecture’s first medical eme