A VISIT by International Olympic Committee (IOC) head Thomas Bach to Japan that had been set for May 17-18 has been postponed due to the extension of the state of emergency, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizers said Monday.

The postponement is an embarrassment to the IOC and local organizers with the Olympics opening in just over 10 weeks. Organizers and the IOC have repeatedly said the Olympics will not be canceled, and will be “safe and secure.”

Japan has attributed 11,000 deaths to COVID-19, better than many countries, but poor for Asia. Variants of the virus are spreading with reports of public health systems coming under pressure.

Public sentiment in Japan continues to run against holding the Olympics in the middle of a pandemic. Between 60-80 percent of Japanese people in polls have said the Olympics should be canceled or postponed. An online petition calling for the Games to be canceled gained 300,000 signatures in three days.

On Monday, the leader of Japan’s main opposition party speaking in Parliament said it was not possible to safely hold the Games. “I think it is possible that the measures our nation takes to protect human life and livelihoods simply will not make it possible to hold the Olympics,” said Yukio Edano, head of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. “In that situation, the IOC and Tokyo city government will have to make a decision and the government will back that.”

Fellow party member Kazunori Yamanoi told Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga that fighting COVID-19 may “have become secondary” to him to holding the Olympics. Suga replied: “I think that is very rude, but I have never put the Olympics first.”

Also on Monday, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported that Hyogo prefecture will take the torch relay off public streets. This would be at least the fifth time the torch has been rerouted. (SD-Agencies)