Support rate for Suga's cabinet hits all-time low ahead of Olympics

CGTN

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Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga attends a news conference on the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Tokyo, Japan, June 17, 2021. /Reuters

The support rate for Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's cabinet decreased to 35.9 percent, hitting the bottom since he took office in September last year, a Kyodo News poll showed on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the disapproval rate rose to 49.8 percent, the highest on record for the Suga administration.

The poll showed signs of public discontent with the government's determination to hold the Tokyo Olympic Games amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the two-day survey over the weekend, 87.0 percent of the respondents expressed concern over Tokyo hosting the Olympics and Paralympics amid the pandemic. With the Olympic Games opening on Friday, more than 30 percent said the event should be canceled and 67.9 percent held doubt about the effectiveness of the latest state of emergency over COVID-19 in Tokyo.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga visits Narita Airport near Tokyo to check anti-coronavirus measures there, July 15, 2021. /CFP

The Tokyo metropolitan government reported 1,008 daily COVID-19 cases on Sunday, topping the 1,000 mark for the fifth straight day and adding to signs that the Japanese capital is seeing a fifth wave of the coronavirus, Kyodo News said.

From July 1 to 16, a total of 15 people among 15,000 arriving in Tokyo for the Olympics were tested positive for COVID-19. Games organizers on Saturday confirmed that

the first case has been detected at the Tokyo Olympic Games Village

, and NHK reported on Sunday that two athletes from overseas have tested positive

.

(With input from Xinhua)

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