Tokyo organizers say Olympics are ‘safe’ — public disagrees

“We’re starting to reach a point where we can’t even cancel anymore,” she said.

Tokyo, Osaka and many other prefectures are under a state of emergency and health-care systems are being stretched. Emergency measures are to end on May 31, but they are likely to be extended and approach the July 23 opening date.

“If the current situation continues, I hope the government will have the wisdom not to end the emergency at the end of May,” Haruo Ozaki, head of the Tokyo Medical Association, told the weekly magazine Aera.

Ozaki has consistently said government measures to control the spread of COVID-19 have been insufficient. About 12,000 deaths in Japan are attributed to the virus, and the situation is exacerbated since few in Japan has been fully vaccinated.

Ozaki warned that if the emergency conditions are not extended, the virus and contagious variants will spread quickly.

“If that happens, there will be a major outbreak, and it is possible that holding the Games will become hopeless,” he added.

Ozaki is not alone with this warnings.

The 6,000-member Tokyo Medical Practitioners’ Association called for the Olympics to be canceled in a letter sent last week to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa, and Seiko Hashimoto, the head of the organizing committee.