With Japan’s seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases barely trailing its worst surge to date and only 1.7% of the population fully vaccinated compared to 38% in the U.S. and 31% in the UK, opposition to hosting the Tokyo Olympics among the Japanese public is growing stronger.
A survey released on Monday in Japan found 83% of respondents said they did not want Tokyo to hold the Olympics and Paralympics starting on July 23, a 14% rise from a survey in April.
And it isn’t just the public that doesn’t want the postponed 2020 Summer Games to be held in 2021. One of Japan’s top medical groups, the Tokyo Medical Practitioners Association, also wants the Olympics canceled, according to Reuters.
Noting that Tokyo doctors already “have their hands full and have almost no spare capacity” due to the surge in infections, the Practitioners Association said medical professionals will soon have to start dealing with heat exhaustion patients during the hot summer months.
“We strongly request that the authorities convince the IOC (International Olympic Committee) that holding the Olympics is difficult and obtain its decision to cancel the Games,” the Practitioners Association said in an open letter to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. “We believe the correct choice is to cancel an event that has the possibility of increasing the numbers of infected people and deaths. Viruses are spread by people’s movements. Japan will hold a heavy responsibility if the Olympics and Paralympics work to worsen the pandemic, increasing the number of those who must suffer and die.”
Responding to the opposition on Wednesday, IOC President Thomas Bach offered to have added medical personnel available to help out when the Games open in about nine weeks and promised to hold a “safe and secure” Olympics in the midst of the pandemic. “For obvious reasons we cannot give them [athletes] every detail yet, but the most important principle is very clear: the Olympic Village is a safe place and the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be organized in a safe way,” Bach said, per The Associated Press.
As Bach spoke, nine prefectures, including the vast metropolitan areas of Tokyo and Osaka, remained under a state of emergency.
Should the Olympics be held as scheduled in Japan, which has already officially spent at least $15.4 billion to organize the Games, they will take place without fans from abroad in attendance. Olympic organizers are expected to announce next month if locals can attend in limited numbers.
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