A leading Japanese politician, Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai, has confirmed that cancelling the Tokyo Olympics remains an option should the country’s coronavirus situation worsen.
Japan are currently dealing with both a rise in infections as well as a surge in the UK variant, with many experts fearing they are on the precipice of a ‘fourth wave’ of the pandemic.
The Olympics are due to start in just three months’ time, with the opening ceremony on July 23, but the latest testing data coming out of the country has created concerns over the staging of the Games.
Now Toshihiro Nikai, the number two in Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has opened the door to the Olympics being cancelled or postponed again if cases continue to rise.
‘If it is impossible, then it should be called off,’ the Secretary General said on Thursday.
‘What is the point of the Olympics if it is responsible for spreading infections? We will have to make a decision at that point.’
Nikai added that the Olympics represented a ‘big chance’ for Japan and they would continue to do everything possible to stage the event, with Prime Minster Yoshihide Suga recently vowing to deliver a ‘safe and secure’ Games.
However, the mood in Japan is turning against the Olympics amid another surge in Covid-19 cases, with a recent poll by Kyodo News revealing that 39.2% of people felt the Games should be cancelled and 32.8% felt they should be rescheduled.
The country is facing a fourth wave of the pandemic with less than 1% of the population having received the vaccination and there have been large protests in Tokyo over hosting the Games.
Concerns have been amplified after the country passed 500,000 total coronavirus cases over the weekend and a number of prefectures have tightened restrictions, with shorter business hours for restaurants and bars in Tokyo and other areas.
Prime Minster Suga has promised to roll out 100 million vaccines by the end of June, but so far less than 0.4% of the country’s 126million population have received two doses.
A statement from Tokyo 2020’s organisers told CNN recently that they were preparing to hold ‘a safe and secure Games without presuming there will be a vaccine and even without vaccines.
‘On the other hand, we hope that vaccines will be properly administered at home and abroad and that the infection will, therefore, be reduced as a whole.’
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