Japan's Emperor to Attend Tokyo Paralympics' Opening Ceremony

Emperor Naruhito will participate in the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games next week, media agencies reported on Thursday.

The Emperor's participation will mark the official beginning of the games at the National Stadium in Tokyo on Tuesday.

In the same context, local agencies indicated that Empress Masako will not attend the opening ceremony to reduce the audience amid the outbreak of Delta variant in the state.

A few days ago, the Japanese authorities decided to hold the Paralympic Games without the presence of the audience because of the pandemic. The same decision was applied through the lately concluded Olympic Games.

After the Tokyo Games, authorities announced that total COVID-19 cases in Japan surpassed a million cases due to the wide outbreak of Delta variant.

Although Tokyo is still under a state of emergency, the spread of the Delta variant is still strong and fast.

In the same context, agencies reported early this month that the new mutated version of the virus, Lambda, was detected in a passenger who came from the US. Therefore, the patient was quarantined and banned from entering the state.