No torch relay in Japanese city as Covid cases mount

Tokyo, April 14: A western Japanese city cancelled the Tokyo Olympics torch relay over spiking Coronavirus cases on Wednesday, the second area to scrap the event as the clock ticks down to the postponed Games.

The decision comes 100 days before the 2020 Olympics begin and accompanies fresh concerns about the viability of the event, with virus cases surging in Japan and abroad.

“We will cancel the torch relay in Matsuyama city.

We will hold the celebration for the arrival of the flame in a way that will not involve ordinary spectators,” said Tokihiro Nakamura, governor of Ehime prefecture.

“Emergency medical services in the region are under extreme pressure as Coronavirus cases rise, Nakamura further said.

He said the decision has been accepted by the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, which did not immediately comment.

The torch relay kicked off on March 25 in Fukushima and was supposed to go through Matsuyama — the hometown of golf hero Hideki Matsuyama — on April 21.

It was barred from public roads in the Osaka region this week, with torchbearers instead running in a closed park in front of a limited number of family and friends.

The ongoing pandemic is playing havoc with preparations for the Olympics and fuelling uncertainty about whether the huge event can, or should, take place.