A vast majority of 72 per cent of Japanese want the Tokyo Olympics cancelled or rescheduled amid fears of another wave of coronavirus infections, a survey conducted by Kyodo News showed on Monday.
The survey indicated that 39.2 per cent of those polled favoured the cancellation of the postponed Olympics, while 32.8 per cent said the event should be put off once again.
Only around quarter of those polled, 24 per cent, supported the holding of this summer’s Olympics and Paralympics which were pushed back one year owing to the pandemic.
The survey also showed 92.6 per cent said they were worried about a resurgence of virus infections.
About 60 per cent said they were dissatisfied with progress in the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines in Japan, while 36.5 per cent said they were not, according to the survey.
The roll-out has been extremely slow since its launch in mid-February. Only 0.4 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated as of Friday, according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
The Olympic torch relay, which launched in the north-eastern prefecture of Fukushima on March 25, was cancelled on public roads in the western prefecture of Osaka this week due to the rapid spread of new variants of the coronavirus.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s government on Monday extended a semi-state of emergency in major cities in Tokyo, Kyoto and Okinawa prefectures as the regions experienced a growing number of new infections.
The government adopted the measure in Osaka, Miyagi and Hyogo prefectures a week ago.
GNA
