Over 50% Of Japanese Consider Ending COVID-19 State Of Emergency Premature - Poll

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th June, 2021) One in two Japanese citizens think that the government's decision to lift the COVID-19 state of emergency in nine prefectures was hasty and about 86 percent fear a possible new coronavirus wave if the Olympic and Paralympic Games proceed as currently planned, a survey conducted by Japanese news agency Kyodo showed on Sunday.

While over 55 percent of people agree with the government's decision to limit the number of spectators at the Olympics, 40.3 percent believe that the games should be held with no spectators at all, while 30.8 percent want the event to be canceled altogether, the poll found.

As many as 68 percent of the Japanese consider the country's vaccine rollout slow, the poll found.

The survey was conducted over telephone on June 19 and 20. The pollster did not specify the number of respondents.

The Olympic Games are due to start on July 23 and the Paralympic Games on August 24.

As of Saturday, more than 784,600 people in Japan have tested positive for the virus, the with the highest numbers registered in Tokyo (168,709 cases), Osaka (102,334 cases) and Kanagawa (65,294 cases). This past Thursday, the Japanese prime minister said that the COVID-19 state of emergency would be lifted on Sunday in all prefectures but Okinawa, while intensive anti-virus measures would be extended in the prefectures bordering Tokyo until July 11.