80 percent of Japanese are in favor of a new postponement of the Olympics.
The new lockdown because of the coronavirus, enforced in the Japanese prefectures of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba on January 8, has sharply deteriorated the attitude of the Japanese to the plans to hold the Summer Olympic Games in their country this summer.
According to a telephone survey by Kyodo, up to 80% of Japanese residents want the 2021 Olympic and Paralympic Games to be cancelled or postponed. 35.3 per cent of respondents were in favour of cancelling the Games, while 44.8 per cent said that Tokyo needs another postponement
On Monday, 1,219 new cases of coronavirus were registered in Tokyo. This rate remains stable throughout the week. In addition, Japan announced the detection of a new mutation of the virus (the so-called “Brazilian strain”), different from those now spreading in the UK, South Africa, and the United States. On Saturday, the prefectures of Kansai, Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo requested the central Government to extend the state of emergency to them. However, mass vaccination in Japan will not start until the end of February.
The Tokyo Olympics were scheduled to be held in July-August 2020, but was postponed to a year due to the pandemic. Previously, the IOC and the Games Organizing Committee had expressed confidence that the competition will be held in 2021 as scheduled.
Source: sport-express.ru