With the Olympic Games just over, Japan is planning the Tokyo Paralympic Games (August 24-September 5). Like the last Olympiad, the dozen days of competition should take place behind closed doors according to the Japanese television channel NTV.

The final decision must be made on Monday in a meeting with all the parties interested in the organization of the event. Only a few events, in the departments least affected by the epidemic, were able to accommodate a small audience.

As in the Olympic Games, the traditional torch relay will be replaced by lighting ceremonies organized at various locations in Japan. They started on Thursday. All the burning flames will gather in the capital to form one.

“We had planned a Paralympic torch relay in Tokyo with around 700 runners but, due to the state of emergency, we decided not to organize it on public roads,” Koichi Osakabe, a Tokyo metropolitan government official, told AFP.

Organizers denied any link between the hosting of the Olympics and the Covid-19 outbreak in Tokyo, even though Japanese health experts felt the Games had indirectly weakened local authorities’ calls for caution.