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Most People in Japan Want Tokyo Olympics to Be Canceled, Says Poll

With only three months to go until the postponed Olympics are set to begin, a new poll showed that 59 percent of people want plans to be abandoned over COVID risks.

People in Japan would much prefer it if the Summer Olympics in Tokyo didn’t go ahead, according to a new national poll. Tokyo is under a state of emergency after a surge in coronavirus cases, meaning that a test event in the Olympic Stadium on Sunday had to go ahead with no spectators in attendance. With only three months to go until the Games are set to begin, a new poll showed that 59 percent of people in Japan want the Games to be canceled and only 39 percent want it to go ahead. On Monday, Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, was asked if the Games would go ahead regardless of the coronavirus case numbers. “I’ve never put the Olympics first,” he said, according to The Guardian. “My priority has been to protect the lives and health of the Japanese population. We must first prevent the spread of the virus.” On Saturday, Japan reported more than 7,000 new infections, its highest figure since the start of the year. On Monday, International Olympic Committee Chairman Thomas Bach canceled his planned visit to Japan, citing the rising number of cases of COVID, the AP reports.