Tokyo POLL: Should Olympics be cancelled as the Covid rates skyrocket? VOTE

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The Japanese government has confirmed that today’s announcement of 2,848 new Covid cases is now the highest daily record ever, surpassing the 2,520 cases that were reported on January 8. In response, Tokyo aims to raise its number of hospital beds to 6,406 by early next month from the current capacity of 5,967, reported Japanese broadcaster TBS. City authorities in Tokyo reportedly issued a notice to hospitals that told them to look at pushing back planned surgery and scaling down other treatments in order to cope with the rise in Covid patient admissions.

On July 12 less than two weeks before the start of the Olympics, a fourth state of Covid emergency came into action.

The government announced that there would be no spectators for the entire Olympics for the first time in history, only journalists and committee members would be allowed to watch the games from inside the stadium.

Do you think it was the right choice for the government to exclude spectators? Let us know what you think by voting in our poll and tell us more about your opinion in the comments section.

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Many Japanese people have been opposed to hosting the Olympic games since the pandemic broke out, and at the beginning of this year, medical experts warned the government that hosting the Olympics would put a massive strain on the health care system.

A recent poll conducted by Kyodo News showed that 87 percent of people expressed concern about the Olympics being held, with 31 percent saying the games should be cancelled altogether.

In May there was a change.org petition demanding that the Olympic games be cancelled which gathered 450,000 signatures.

That month the CEO of Rakuten TV Hiroshi Mikitani called hosting the Olympics games “a suicide mission”, he added: “I’m trying to convince them [government], but not successful so far”.

The New Yorker dubbed the Tokyo Olympics “the Anger Games”, as protests have overwhelmed the country.

During the opening ceremony, hundreds of protestors gathered outside the Olympic stadium and chanted “cancel the Olympics!” and “go to hell IOC” (International Olympic committee).

Only 36.6 percent of Japan’s population have received their first dose of the vaccine, and the slow roll-out of vaccines has contributed to the Japanese peoples’ discontent with hosting 10,305 athletes from across the world.

Japanese opposition to the Olympics has become so strong that some major companies like Toyota have distanced themselves from the games. Toyota stated that it would not air television commercials during domestic broadcasts of the Olympics to prevent its brand from being “tarnished,” reported CBS.

Toyota president Akio Toyoda did not attend Friday’s opening ceremonies, and presidents of other companies such as NEC Corp. and Fujitsu also decided not to show up.

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When discussing how attitudes changed towards hosting the Olympic games when Covid became a reality, Journalist Oscar Boyd from The Japan Times said: “There was a real shift in the way the Olympics was being spoken about.

“At the start of the pandemic the discussion was about ‘is Japan a safe place to do the Olympics?’ but then it became a discussion about ‘Does Japan want to invite the world here?’ considering the size and scale of the outbreaks around the world.”

Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa said in September 2020 that the Olympic games should be held in 2021 “at any cost”, even though no vaccines were on the horizon at this point.

Mr Boyd commented that this statement from Ms Marukawa “fed into a growing perception that the Olympics were taking priority over the health of the Japanese people”.

Speaking on Deep Dive podcast for The Japan Times, writer Patrick St. Michel said that there has been “a total loss of enthusiasm” towards the Olympic games, he added: “it feels like at this point it’s something everybody just wants to get through.”

This loss of enthusiasm can be seen worldwide as Olympic viewership across the globe has hit a record 33 year low, according to Reuters.

Express.co.uk want to know whether you think the Japanese government has prioritised the Olympics over people’s lives. Vote now and comment below.

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