Around 200,000 people in Japan have signed an online petition demanding the event – postponed from last year and now due to open in less than 12 weeks on 23 July – is discarded due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This comes as a state of emergency in Tokyo and major cities including Osaka and Kyoto is likely to be extended until the end of the month, despite being due to expire on 11 May.

The report has it that only just 2.2% of the Japanese population has been vaccinated despite tens of millions of doses of unused COVID-19 vaccines piling up. Health chiefs imported 28m doses of the Pfizer vaccine in late April – but 24m remain sitting in freezers.

The petition was addressed to International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach, who is due to meet the Olympic torch relay in 10 days in Hiroshima, before possibly traveling to Tokyo.

The Olympic torch relay has been crisscrossing Japan for a month – with eight people working on the relay testing positive for coronavirus, organizers say.

However up to 80% of people said they want the games to be canceled or postponed, officials including Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and the Tokyo organizing committee president, Seiko Hashimoto, have repeatedly insisted the event will go ahead.

Organizers and the IOC unveiled so-called playbooks last week, explaining rules for athletes and others to show how the games can be held in the middle of a pandemic. Several test events have been conducted in the last few days, and organizers have reported few problems.

The petition was launched by lawyer Kenji Utsunomiya – who has run several times for Tokyo governor.”Government policies are being set with the Olympics in mind, and measures to curb the coronavirus pandemic are being neglected,” Mr. Utsunomiya said. “Hospitals are stretched thin, and some people are dying at home.

“Japan says the virus has claimed the lives of 10,500 people across the country.