Wall St Journal Japan Editor Alastair Gale says “there is a chance” the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games will be cancelled as COVID-19 cases surge in Japan.
“We’ve got three months to go, a lot could happen in those three months, what we heard this week was one of the senior figures in the ruling party saying for the first time that cancellation is an option,” he told Sky News.
“That was something that was pushed back very hard by organisers saying ‘no we’re focused on making sure the Games go ahead’, we’ve had IOC figure John Coates from Australia saying the Olympics will happen but we are going into a new wave of virus cases.”
Mr Gale said the governor of Osaka is asking the government to declare the area a state of emergency and the Tokyo governor wants the same declaration for the main city.
“It’s making the organisers very nervous, they’re doing what they can to say that precautions will be in place, whatever happens for the Olympics they are encouraging athletes to come in late and leave early.”