The Tokyo Olympic Games originally scheduled for 2020 will go ahead this year despite concerns over rising Covid-19 cases in Japan, according to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga,
Suga has insisted that, despite daily cases topping the 1,000 mark, Tokyo will host the rearranged Games, as planned.
The politician stated that the “Games will be held this summer,” and the event will be “safe and secure.”
Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Japan has recorded more than 239,000 cases, with in excess of 3,300 deaths, through 2020 and concerns have risen along with the elevated infection rate in the nation in recent weeks.
Most recently, there were 1,337 new cases recorded on New Year’s Eve, a record high for Japan.
But despite the rising cases, Prime Minister Suga remains adamant that the Games will go on, and said that the nation successfully hosting the Olympics will serve as a “symbol of global solidarity.”
But that view stands in contrast with the results of a poll by Japanese national broadcaster NHK, which showed that the majority of Japanese people questioned actually opposed the staging of the Games this year, with most preferring to extend the delay, or even canceling the event entirely.
