The 68,000-seat arena cost $1.4 billion. But a poll this week by Japan’s Kyodo News Agency found fewer than 1 in 4 people in Japan even want to host the Games anymore. A third of respondents said they should be canceled, while 36 percent expressed interest in postponing them for more than a year.

“If current situation continues, we couldn’t” host, Tokyo Olympics Organizing Committee President Yoshiro Mori said Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

On Thursday, Japan recorded more than 830 new coronavirus cases, setting a new daily high for the country a day after beating the old record. Since January, Japan has confirmed more than 28,700 cases and 1,005 deaths related to covid-19.

Japan lifted its state of emergency two months ago after containing an initial coronavirus outbreak. But under pressure to reopen the economy, the government has said it won’t return to major shutdowns even as cases in this second wave continue to rise.

The numbers …continued .
[Source: Washington Post]