TOKYO: A plan being considered by the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee and others to allow 20,000 people for the event’s opening ceremony has drawn criticism for contradicting countermeasures against the new coronavirus.

Leaders of the committee and four other related organizations on Monday agreed to accept up to 10,000 spectators at each venue of the Tokyo Olympics, set to start July 23.

But the spectator cap for the opening ceremony may have a special quota, sources familiar with the situation said.

The opening ceremony is a “special event,” a senior Tokyo Games organizing committee official said, adding, “It will be all right if the number of spectators could be 20,000 to 30,000.”

The envisaged special quota is believed to include guests from sponsor companies, the sources said.

Experts, including Shigeru Omi, head of the Japanese government’s COVID-19 advisory panel, have proposed that the Tokyo Games be held without spectators due to the coronavirus crisis. They said that stricter standards than those for large-scale events in Japan should be set if the Tokyo Games accepts spectators.

While Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has shown his readiness to respect the experts’ proposals, the envisaged special quota for the opening ceremony can be taken to go against this, pundits said.

Toshiro Muto, director-general of the organizing committee, told a press conference Monday that officials related to the operation of the Olympics are “organizers,” not “spectators,” suggesting that they will be allowed at the opening ceremony outside the limit on spectators.

While refraining from mentioning a specific number for such officials to be allowed at the opening ceremony, Muto said it would be clearly far fewer than 10,000.

Opposition lawmakers view the envisaged special quota as problematic.

Renho, acting leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, tweeted on Monday that the opening ceremony should not be treated as an exception.

Akira Nagatsuma, deputy head of the CDP, told a party meeting the same day that accepting 20,000 people for the opening ceremony totally runs counter to the experts’ proposals and therefore is impossible.

JIJI Press