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(CNN) – The opening and closing ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics will be carried out with a “simpler and more measured approach,” the Organizing Committee announced on Wednesday.
The ceremonies will be designed to “reflect the overall simplification of the Games” with Covid-19 countermeasures in place.
The Tokyo Organizing Committee did not make any announcements on how the format of the opening and closing ceremonies would be different or modified.
“It is appropriate to simplify ceremonial events and programs and have them reflect and somehow respect the global experience of the Covid-19 pandemic,” the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee statement said Wednesday.
The Tokyo Organizing Committee held a press conference on Wednesday and announced that it was creating a new team to help prepare the events.
The new team hopes that the iconic opening and closing of the Olympics will include “symbols of humanity’s unity and symbiosis in overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic,” the statement added.
The news comes as the death toll from viruses in Japan surpasses 3,007, according to figures released Wednesday.
Japan’s Ministry of Health reported 2,683 new coronavirus infections and 50 deaths for Tuesday. Tokyo is the most affected city, with 563 cases discovered in the last 24 hours.
Earlier this week, the Organizing Committee said that the budget for the upcoming games amounts to $ 15.4 billion, including postponement costs and additional Covid-19 countermeasures being taken. This is a $ 12.6 billion increase predicted before the Olympics.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Tokyo 2020 chief executive Toshiro Muto called the additional costs a “positive investment” and said the games would be a “role model” for major international events during the pandemic.
Muto reiterated that the details of the game, including the scale of the ceremonies, the number of foreign spectators and the virus prevention measures, will be decided this spring.
In November, the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, said he was “very, very confident” that spectators would be able to attend the postponed Tokyo Games next year.
With the Olympics scheduled to begin on July 23, 2021, Bach said he was hopeful the vaccines would allow the Games to unfold as close to normal as possible in a “post-coronavirus world.”
This story was first published on CNN.com. Tokyo Olympics: opening and closing ceremonies to be reduced
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