Japan will do utmost to stop Covid spread before Olympics, says PM Suga

Tokyo

JAPANESE Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Thursday the government would do "everything possible" to prevent the spread of coronavirus ahead of the Olympics, after a ruling party official said cancelling the event remained an option.

"There's no change to the government's stance, to do everything possible to prevent the spread of infections as we head towards the Olympics," Mr Suga said, sidestepping a reporter's question as to whether cancellation was possible, as party heavyweight Toshihiro Nikai had said earlier. Mr Suga was speaking to reporters at the prime minister's official residence ahead of his trip to the United States for a meeting with President Joe Biden.

"If it seems impossible (to host the Olympics) any more, then we have to stop it, decisively," Mr Nikai, secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, said in earlier comments to broadcaster TBS.

Cancellation is "of course" an option, he said, adding: "If the Olympics were to spread infection, then what are the Olympics for?"

With Japan in the middle of a fourth wave of coronavirus infections, doubts over whether Tokyo would be able to host the Summer Games - already an unpopular idea with the public - have resurfaced in recent weeks.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

But government and organising officials have consistently said the Games would go ahead, and the fact that a ruling party heavyweight made the remark was enough to give his comments top billing on domestic news. "Olympics Cancelled" was trending on Twitter in Japan with nearly 50,000 tweets from users as at Thursday afternoon.

Mr Nikai later issued a written statement to explain his stance.

"I want the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to succeed," the statement said. "At the same time, to the question of whether we would host the (Games) no matter what, that is not the case. That's what I meant by my comments."

Japan is grappling with rising Covid-19 infections, with new cases in Tokyo jumping to 729 on Thursday, the most since early February. Tokyo, Osaka and several other prefectures entered a quasi-state of emergency this month, asking bars and restaurants to shorten their hours, and four more prefectures were set to be added, local media reported.

Asked about Mr Nikai's comments, the Tokyo Olympic organising committee said in a statement: "Prime Minister Suga has repeatedly expressed the government's commitment to holding the Tokyo 2020 Games.

"All our delivery partners including the national government, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) are fully focused on hosting the Games this summer."

Preparations have included incorporating social distancing measures and other restrictions for the postponed Games, which are set to begin on July 23 and will be held without international spectators. A scaled-back torch relay is already underway.

"We'll hold (the Games) in a way that's feasible," Taro Kono, a popular minister in charge of Japan's vaccination drive, said on a separate TV programme, said Kyodo News. "That may be without spectators," he added.

Japan's top medical adviser, Shigeru Omi, acknowledged the pandemic had entered a fourth wave, driven by mutant strains, with Kyoto University professor Hiroshi Nishiura urging in a magazine commentary that the Olympics be postponed.

Akira Koike, an opposition lawmaker with the Japanese Communist Party, reacted to Mr Nikai's comments on Twitter saying that holding the event was already "impossible" and that a swift decision on cancellation should be made. REUTERS