Support for the delayed Tokyo Olympic Games, set down for this summer, has collapsed in Japan as the country battles a fresh outbreak of the coronavirus.
Just over 80 percent of those asked by Kyodo news agency said the the world’s single biggest sporting should be cancelled or postponed again — a jump from around 60 percent in a December 6 survey by the same outlet.
AFP reports Kyodo said the survey asked 1,041 participants nationwide, who were selected by random dialling.
Tokyo 2020 organisers have said another delay is out of the question and insist the Games will go ahead despite a state of emergency declared in the greater Tokyo area this week over a surge in Covid-19 cases.
As Breitbart News reported, the Games were postponed last year just as the global coronavirus pandemic took hold and as organizers tried to reshape the event to be more reflective of modern times.
The Olympics have never before been postponed, and have only ever previously been canceled in wartime.
Despite the bleak polling numbers, Tokyo organisers have said another delay is out of the question and are insisting the Games will go ahead despite a state of emergency declared in the greater Tokyo area this week over a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said this week that Japan is committed to holding a “safe and secure” Olympics.
He said he believed the public mood will change when the country begins vaccinations, currently scheduled for late February.
But senior International Olympic Committee official Dick Pound told the BBC he could not “be certain” the Games will go ahead, because “the ongoing elephant in the room would be the surges in the virus.”
The rescheduled Games are set to take place between 23 July and 8 August.
Costs for the Games have increased by $2.8bn because of measures needed to prevent the spread of coronavirus amongst athletes and spectators.