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Only 19.9 percent of the Japanese are in favor of hosting the Summer Games in Tokyo
Photo: Eugene Hoshiko / dpa
In the middle of the fight against the third wave of coronavirus, the Japanese population can hardly get excited about hosting the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer.
According to a nationwide telephone survey by the Kyodo news agency, more than 80 percent of the 1,041 respondents are in favor of canceling (35.3 percent) or postponing (44.8) the games.
This is a new poll low before the major event, which is currently planned to begin on July 23.
A month ago, around 60 percent were against organizing this summer.
The resistance in the Japanese population is constant, last summer - when the corona situation in the country was much more relaxed - 70 percent were already against hosting the Games in July 2021.
The Japanese organizers have ruled out a further postponement of the games despite the difficult Corona situation.
The one-month state of emergency imposed for the greater Tokyo area due to the sharp rise in the number of infections does not change anything in the schedule for the "safe event," it said on Friday.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is already considering giving athletes preferential vaccination in order to increase safety during the Games.
On Saturday, the number of new infections in Japan was over 7,000 on the third day in a row. The Japanese government is now considering expanding the current emergency to other large cities.
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