Japanese Medicals Calls for Revocation of Tokyo Olympics

 With little more than three months to go before the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games, a major Japanese medical association is calling for the cancellation of the event due to the current surge of new COVID-19 infections.   

The Tokyo Medical Practitioners Association

posted an open letter to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga Monday warning that hospitals in the Japanese capital city “have their hands full and have almost no spare capacity.”  

 

The group that represents about 6,000 primary care doctors and hospitals urged Suga to convince the International Olympic Committee that holding the games would be “difficult” and that it should be called off.   

The current surge has prompted authorities to place Tokyo and several other prefectures under a state of emergency, leading to a growing demand among the general public to cancel the Olympics, which are scheduled to begin July 23 after a one-year delay because of the pandemic. 

A public opinion poll published Monday by Asahi Shimbun newspaper revealed more than 80% of Japanese are opposed to the games, with 43% wanting them canceled and another 40% calling for them to be postponed again. 

Only 14% of those want the Games to proceed as scheduled.  

The outbreak has also caused the Japanese economy to contract 5.1% in the first three months of 2021.

Johns Hopkins

 is reporting more than 163.6 million total COVID-19 infections worldwide, including more than 3.3 million deaths.  The United States leads the world with more than 32.9 million confirmed infections and 586,359 deaths. India has topped 25 million total infections, putting it second behind the U.S., while Brazil is third with more than 15.6 million confirmed cases.   

Brazil is in second place in total deaths with 436,537, while India is third with 278,719 deaths.