May 24, 2021
A state of emergency has been imposed on Tokyo and a number of other prefectures.
Reuters
Organisers of the Tokyo Olympic Games say they have lowered the number of foreigners coming to Japan as athletes, support staff or media workers to about 69,000, although a leading infections expert is calling for that figure to be cut even further.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, the government, the organising committee and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were anticipating around 200,000 foreign athletes, team officials, IOC members, media staff, and representatives of sponsors to travel to Tokyo for the largest sporting event in Japan s history.
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Olympic sized Covid problems for Japan ahead of the Summer Games May 24, 2021 12:12 PM CDT By Al Neal
In this May 17, 2021, file photo, demonstrators protest against the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The IOC and Tokyo Olympic organizers start three days of virtual meetings Wednesday, May 19, 2021 and will run into some of the strongest medical-community opposition so far with the games set to open in just over eight weeks. | Koji Sasahara/AP
The 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games are now two months away, and the situation does not look good. Current polls show over 80 per cent of the population want the games cancelled. The results are not surprising following the extension of a Covid-19 state of emergency in Tokyo and nine other major cities.
May 05, 2021
A demonstrator wearing a face mask holds a sign to protest against the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games a year before the start of the summer games that have been postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, near National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan, July 24, 2020.
Reuters
The governors of nine Japanese prefectures believe the Tokyo Olympic Games should be postponed again or cancelled outright if the present surge in coronavirus cases cannot be brought under control.
The Mainichi newspaper interviewed the governors of all 47 Japanese prefectures, with nine local leaders saying that scrapping the Games should be an option if the safety of athletes, spectators and members of the public could not be guaranteed.
With Japan marking the unwelcome milestone of 10,000 coronavirus deaths on Monday, there are growing indications that the public is becoming impatient at the government's slow rollout of the vaccine.