Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said that he has never “put the Olympics first”, the same day an opinion poll showed nearly 60 per cent of people in Japan want the Olympics cancelled less than three months before they begin.

Japan has extended a state of emergency in Tokyo until the end of May and is struggling to contain a surge in Covid-19 cases, raising further questions about whether the Games should go on. Its vaccination rate is the lowest among wealthy nations, Reuters reports.

International Olympic officials, Tokyo planners and Suga himself have insisted the Games will go on in “a safe and secure” way.

Foreign spectators have been barred and planners issued an elaborate playbook of rules last month aimed at preventing coronavirus infections.