TOKYO (AFP) – The Olympic torch relay will be barred from public roads across Japan’s Osaka region, the governor said yesterday, after a spike in virus cases there prompted officials to declare a medical emergency.
Yesterday’s announcement extended the measure of keeping the flame away from public to the entire prefecture.
“We decided to ask residents across the entire Osaka region to refrain from making non-essential outings, so we will cancel the torch relay on public roads in the prefecture,” governor Hirofumi Yoshimura told reporters.
