OREANDA-NEWS. A petition to cancel the Olympic Games in Tokyo due to the coronavirus pandemic, which collected over 350,000 signatures in nine days, was handed over on Friday, May 14, to the organizers of the event — the heads of the National Olympic and Paralympic Committees, the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, as well as to the government of Japan and the governor of the Japanese capital Yuriko Koike.

Kenji Utsunomiya, the initiator of the «Stop the Olympics in Tokyo» campaign and the author of the petition, pointed out at a press conference, that the Olympic Games, which in 2020 have already been postponed by a year, can only be held when Japan can receive guests and athletes without any reservations.

«We are not in this situation now, so the Games should be canceled», he said, noting that in the event of the Olympics, it will have to redirect «precious medical resources».

Concerns about plans to host the Tokyo Olympics are linked to the deteriorating epidemiological situation in the country, where a state of emergency is being declared in an increasing number of areas. It now operates in Tokyo, Osaka, and four other prefectures.

However, Tokyo Governor Koike, when asked about the campaign against the Games, said that she would continue to work for the «safe and peaceful» Olympic Games. According to «Worldometers», since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 658.6 thousand people in Japan have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and more than 11.1 thousand patients have died.