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TOKYO: Tokyo woke up to its second state of emergency on Friday (January 8) and many people believed that it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to host the Olympics safely.
The Japanese government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided last March to postpone the Olympic Games by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The sport’s global masterpiece is scheduled to begin in less than 200 days, from July 23 to August 8.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga reiterated his intention to hold the Games on Thursday.
However, a December poll by public broadcaster NHK showed that a third of Japanese residents want the Games canceled due to fear that an influx of foreign arrivals could cause a further increase in COVID-cases. 19.
In the same poll, 31 percent of respondents favored another delay, while only 27 percent said the Olympics should go ahead as scheduled.
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“I think it is difficult. It is impossible to hold the Olympics,” said Tatsuhiko Akamasu, 75, who was visiting Tokyo on Friday from nearby Saitama.
“It is only two and a half months until the torch relay. I don’t think we can control the virus during this period.”
The 121-day torch relay, which normally announces the countdown to the Olympics, will begin in Fukushima on March 25, an early date, as it was shortly before the event started last year that the decision was made. postponement.
“I think it is more likely that we will not hold the Olympics, and I prefer that the government make the decision at some point to cancel them,” said Hisashi Miyabe, 74.
More than 15,000 athletes from around the world are expected to arrive in Tokyo for the Games, raising concerns that they may bring new mutations of the virus to Japan.
“I think interaction between people will cause further spread of the coronavirus and the virus is more likely to mutate if the number of infections increases. I feel like that’s a little scary,” said Yuki Furusho, a 23-year-old student. .
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