Nikai, the No. 2 leader of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's ruling party that cancelling the games may be an option if the spread of coronavirus infections forces organizers to think it would be difficult to hold the event.
File Photo
Tokyo:
Secretary-General of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Toshihiro Nikai said Thursday that cancelling this year's Tokyo Olympics could be an option if the Covid-19 situation continues to worsen.
Nikai, the No. 2 leader of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's ruling party, said in a TV show yet to be aired that cancelling the games may be an option if the spread of coronavirus infections forces organizers to think it would be difficult to hold the event, Xinhua reports.
His remarks came as the capital on Wednesday began a 100-day countdown until the beginning of the already postponed quadrennial event, with concerns rife that Covid-19 cases in and outside of Tokyo could be set to worsen.
Such is the severity of Japan's rebounding Covid-19 infections that the head of the government's Covid panel warned that Japan has entered a "fourth wave" of infections.
Conversations