TOKYO – Japan’s government today widened a Covid-19 state of emergency, just 10 weeks before the Tokyo Olympics, as campaigners submitted a petition with some 351,000 signatures urging for the Games to be scrapped.
With Tokyo and other areas already under emergency orders until end-May, three more regions – including northern Hokkaido, which will host the Olympic marathon – are joining them.
“Today, we decided to add Hokkaido, Okayama and Hiroshima to the areas under the state of emergency from May 16 to 31,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced at a virus task force meeting.
The expanded emergency, aimed at combating a fourth wave that is putting the nation’s medical system under strain, comes with public opinion firmly opposed to holding the Games this summer, fearing further infections.
Kenji Utsunomiya, a former candidate for Tokyo governor, urged Games organisers to “prioritise life” as he submitted the 351,000-signature petition to city authorities.
“I think the Olympics this time is about whether we prioritise life, or a ceremony and event called the Olympics,” he said, calling on Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike to push for a cancellation.
The petition is also being sent to the International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee (IPC), as well as local organisers and the national government.
“Holding the Olympics under these circumstances means precious medical resources have to be set aside for the Games,” said Utsunomiya.
Yesterday, a doctors’ union warned that it is “impossible” to hold the Games safely during the pandemic, but organisers said virus countermeasures will keep athletes and the Japanese public safe.
In an interview with AFP, IPC chief Andrew Parsons acknowledged Japanese “anger” over the Games.
But, he said, strict rules, including daily testing and limited movement for athletes, mean the chance of infection is “really remote”.
“We want to provide this feeling of certainty, because we see that the anger comes from this concept that it’s the Japanese population’s safety versus the Games. I believe they can coexist.”
World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe, who attended test events in Japan last week, said no major sports event so far has been a “super-spreader”.
“The world does need to keep moving,” he wrote in the Daily Mail.
“At a time when football, rugby, tennis and athletics are all back functioning, and crowds slowly returning, it would seem odd to pull stumps on an Olympic Games where the protocols will be tougher than in any other walk of life, and many competitors and their support teams will arrive having been vaccinated.”
In Japan, however, one of the country’s most prominent businessmen, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, said he is “afraid” of the Games going ahead.
“I am very much afraid of having the Olympics,” he told CNBC.
“Not just Japan, but many countries, they’re still having a big, tough situation. I don’t know how they can support sending athletes.” – AFP, May 14, 2021
