OREANDA-NEWS. During the ceremony to welcome the Olympic flame, a rally was held at the Tokyo City Hall against the holding of the 2020 Games. Residents of Japan, with posters in English, called on the government to cancel the competition.

"The government should direct this money to the fight against coronavirus, and not to the Olympics," RIA Novosti quoted one of the rally participants. "We do not need the Olympics."

It is not the first time that the Japanese have turned to the country's government with such a request. Earlier, the leading medical organization in Japan published an open letter in which it noted that the country is not in a position to host the Olympics, and hundreds of thousands of people have already signed a petition calling for the Games to be canceled.

A state of emergency was introduced in Japan early last week. In Tokyo alone, more than a thousand cases of infection are recorded every day. The head of the coordination commission for the 2020 Games, John Coates, said that the emergency mode would not affect the conduct of the Olympics.

More than 100 cases of COVID-19 have already been identified at the Tokyo Games. The executive director of the organizing committee of the Olympics, Toshiro Muto, previously said that the question of canceling the Games would be raised if there was a surge in coronavirus infection among athletes.

The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will take place on Friday 23 July. The beginning is at 14:00 Moscow time. Russia will perform at the ceremony under number 77.

It is recalled that the Olympics will be held from July 23 to August 8. Competitions with the participation of Russian athletes will be shown live on the "Look" media platform and on the "Russia 1" TV channel.