Berlin, April 16, (dpa/GNA) – Tokyo Olympics organizers are ruling out a cancellation or another postponement of the Games despite a sharp rise in the number of coronavirus infections in Japan.
“There are a lot of concerns, but as the organizing committee of Tokyo 2020, we aren’t thinking of cancelling the Games,” Seiko Hashimoto, president of the organizing committee, said on Friday.
On Thursday, Toshihiro Nikai, secretary general of Japan’s ruling party LDP, had said a cancellation of the Olympics might be an option if the coronavirus pandemic worsens.
Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga then issued a statement on Thursday stressing that there was no change in the government’s position “to do everything possible to achieve safe Olympic Games.”
In March 2020, the pandemic forced the International Olympic Committee and local organizers to delay the Games by one year in an unprecedented move.
The postponed Olympics are due to start on July 23.
A survey conducted by Kyodo News showed earlier this week 72 per cent of people in Japan want the Olympics cancelled or rescheduled due to the ongoing pandemic.
Only 24 per cent supported the Olympics and Paralympics going ahead this year.
GNA