Postponing Olympic Games Supported by Nine of Japan’s Prefectural Heads, But Not Hosting Tokyo

Nine of Japan’s 47 prefectural governors recently said the forthcoming Tokyo Olympic Games should be cancelled or postponed due to the rise in COVID-19 cases in the country, according to a recent poll.

The questionnaire was sent by the national daily paper Mainichi Shimbun to all 47 governors on April 20 and returned by April 28 and included two questions. One question asked if their province stood to gain by the games being held, and the second asked what they thought should be done about the games in the interests of their residents’ health, providing four possible answers: they should be held no matter what; they should be cancelled or postponed depending on the circumstances; now is not the time to decide; or simply “I don’t know.”

While Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike chose no answer, he did reply with a message saying that “We are all in the fight to suppress the pandemic, and we will continue to prepare a safe and secure event.”

However, that was before Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency on April 23, imposing new restrictions in the metropolitan Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures. However, the emergency period is set to expire on May 11 and serious cases keep rising. Kyodo News Agency reported on Monday that patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 symptoms had reached its highest-ever point in the country.

An opinion poll conducted by Kyodo in early April, as the latest wave was beginning to accelerate, found that 72% of the Japanese public believe the games should either be postponed or cancelled. 

Some 10,000 medical workers will be needed for the games, which will take place during the hottest time of year. The Japanese Nursing Association was recently asked to contribute 500 volunteer nurses for the event, but the suggestion sparked fury.

Organizers of the games have implemented numerous safety measures designed to keep athletes and the public safe as the games go ahead, including cancelling the tickets for roughly 630,000 foreign spectators to the games, banning domestic spectators from the test games scheduled prior to the official games and requiring regular testing for all athletes.

Sourse: sputniknews.com