"If it seems impossible to go on with the games, they must be definitely canceled," Liberal Democratic Party secretary general Toshihiro Nikai told the Associated Press. "If there is a surge in infections because of the Olympics, there will be no meaning to having the Olympics."
Nikai added that cancellation is still an option because hosting the Olympics has to turn out to be successful -- especially because these games have already been postponed once.
"It is important for Japan to have a successful Olympics," Nikai said. "It is a big opportunity. I want to make it a success. We will have many issues to resolve and prepare, and it is important to take care of them one by one."
Tokyo Olympic organizers, the International Olympic Commission, and International Paralympic Committee are still "are fully focused on hosting the games this summer." Organizers have maintained that they plan to announce a decision regarding the number of fans that can attend the Olympics later this month.
There are several people that believe that the rescheduled 2020 Olympics shouldn't take place this July. Earlier this week, a Kyodo News poll showed that 72 percent of Japanese residents asked are in favor of postponing or even canceling the Tokyo Olympics. According to the Wall Street Journal, as of April 12 only one percent of the Japanese population had received a COVID-19 vaccination. The country had a slow rollout in terms of administering COVID-19 vaccines and just began doing so in mid-February.
In recent weeks, COVID-19 cases have been increasing throughout Japan. On Thursday, Osaka, which is Japan's second-largest city, reported 1,208 new cases of the virus. In addition, it marked the third consecutive day that COVID-19 cases were over 1,000.
Photo source: picture from an open source