Japan's prime minister (PM) Yoshihide Suga said the state of emergency would remain in place until August 22. "Taking into consideration the effect of coronavirus variants and not to let the infections spread again to the rest of the nation, we need to strengthen our countermeasures," the PM noted.

The state of emergency for the Japanese capital was announced after the meeting between the Japanese government, the International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach and the organizing committee.

The Olympic Games are scheduled to take place in Tokyo between July 23 and August 8, and the Paralympic Games are to be held between August 24 and September 5.