Вы просто вызываете оповещение один раз, если размещаете его вне функции интервала:
// Set the date we're counting down to
var countDownDate = new Date("July 24, 2020 00:00:00").getTime();
// Update the count down every 1 second
var x = setInterval(function() {
// Get todays date and time
var now = new Date().getTime();
// Find the distance between now and the count down date
var distance = countDownDate - now;
// Time calculations for days, hours, minutes and seconds
var days = Math.floor(distance / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24));
var hours = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24)) / (1000 * 60 * 60));
var minutes = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60 * 60)) / (1000 * 60));
var seconds = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60)) / 1000);
// Display the result in the element with id="demo"
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = days + "d " + hours + "h " + minutes + "m " + seconds + "s ";
// If the count down is finished, write some text
if (distance < 0) {
clearInterval(x);
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = "EXPIRED";
}
alert(`${days} days, ${hours} hours, ${minutes} minutes, ${seconds} seconds until the Tokyo 2020 Olympics`); // this jquery notation makes it easier to write strings depending on variables
//alert(days + " days, " + hours + " hours, " + minutes + " minutes, " + seconds + " seconds, until the Tokyo 2020 Olympics");
}, 10000);
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<p id="demo"></p>