Olympics-About 950 people to watch opening event at stadium, official says

About 950 people, including officials and journalists, will watch Friday's opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics at the main stadium from which spectators have been banned, one of the organizers said.

In addition to that group would-be performers and athletes participating in the Games, Hidemasa Nakamura, chief of Tokyo 2020's main operation center, told a news briefing on Thursday.

Asked about the tally of 87 COVID-19 infections among athletes, officials, and journalists, he said completely getting rid of the virus was "extremely difficult", making it important to quickly identify and tackle any new cases.