Recently conducted polls in Japan showed that a huge majority of the local residents are against the hosting of the Olympics this year.
One poll published Monday showed that nearly 88% of people did not want the country to proceed with its plans to host the international multi-sport event.
The polls were published less than 10 weeks until the Tokyo Games are officially set to kick off. It also comes as the Japanese government extended the state of emergency declaration for some parts of the country as it battles a fourth wave of the coronavirus.
The recent surge in coronavirus infections has put massive pressure on the country's healthcare system. Health professionals have repeatedly warned that hospitals are quickly running out of medical resources and front-line workers are burning out.
A survey conducted by Asahi Shimbun Daily showed that 43% of respondents were for the cancellation of the Olympic Games, while 40% wanted to postpone the event to a later date. The results were higher than the 35% that backed a cancellation and the 34% that wanted a postponement in a prior survey.
The survey showed that only 14% of residents support holding the Olympic Games as scheduled. If the games do go ahead as planned, 59% of respondents wanted organizers to bar spectators. Asahi Shimbun Daily conducted 3,191 telephone calls for the survey.
In a separate survey conducted by Kyodo News, around 87.7% of respondents were against holding the Olympics games this summer. It has to be noted that the poll did not include a postponement as an option to respondents.
Olympics Games organizers have repeatedly assured the public that it will be implementing strict anti-virus measures during the entire duration of the event. This includes regular testing of athletes, a ban on overseas fans and mandatory social distancing and mask-wearing.
In terms of the government's response to the pandemic, the Kyodo poll found 85% of respondents consider the country's vaccine rollout to be slow. Around 71.5% of respondents were "unhappy" with the government's handling of the health crisis.
