“Stop Tokyo Olympics” marketing campaign organizer Kenji Utsunomiya stated the worldwide competition of sport — already postponed from 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic — ought to happen solely when Japan can welcome guests and athletes wholeheartedly.
“We are not in that situation and therefore the Games should be canceled,” he informed a information convention. “Precious medical resources would need to be diverted to the Olympics if it’s held.”
The petition was submitted to the Olympic and Paralympic committee chiefs in addition to Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.
It got here as Japan added three extra areas to a state of emergency now overlaying Tokyo, Osaka and 4 different prefectures amid surging case numbers, lower than three months out from the scheduled July 23 begin of the Games.
Asked concerning the anti-Games marketing campaign, Tokyo Governor Koike stated she would proceed to work in the direction of a “safe and secure” Olympics.
“Though there is a global pandemic, it is important to hold (a) safe and secure Tokyo 2020 Games,” she informed a daily press convention.
The new areas beneath the state of emergency embrace Hokkaido prefecture the place the Olympic marathon will happen, after the prefecture reported a document excessive of 712 new coronavirus instances on Thursday.
Opposition to the Games has additionally come from medical doctors, whereas some high-profile Japanese athletes have expressed concern, together with Masters golf champion Hideki Matsuyama and prime girls’s tennis participant Naomi Osaka.
Japanese enterprise chief Masayoshi Son, chief of SoftBank Group Corp, added his voice to the refrain of trepidation on Thursday, saying in unusually blunt remarks that he was “afraid” of what may occur if the Games went forward on schedule.
Dozens of cities that had been due to host visiting athletes at pre-Games occasions have canceled these plans, saying they might not assure medical assist amid strains on the hospital system.
With the most recent emergency measures, 19 out of Japan’s 47 prefectures fall beneath restrictions that embrace closures of eateries by eight p.m. and a ban on alcohol at bars and eating places.
Nationwide, Japan has seen about 656,000 confirmed coronavirus instances up to now, with 11,161 deaths.
