China News Service, February 19. According to Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" report on the 18th, Shimane Prefecture Governor Maruyama Tatsuya also stated that he would cancel the Tokyo Olympic torch relay originally scheduled to be held in Shimane Prefecture in May.
Maruyama also said that in the next month or so, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Japanese Government will observe the infection countermeasures before making a final judgment.
Data map: On March 19, 2020 local time, the handover ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic torch took place at the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens.
The picture shows the Greek Olympic Committee chairman Spiros Capraros receiving the torch.
According to reports, at a meeting related to the torch relay, Maruyama pointed out the infection situation in Tokyo and said that “if the problem is not resolved, as the governor, he will discuss the cancellation of the torch relay in the prefecture”.
Maruyama regards the existence of people who died in their own homes without receiving proper medical services in Tokyo as a problem. He also stated that as a prefectural government, it cannot serve as a source of financial and human resources for the torch relay.
Shimane Prefecture spent about 90 million yen (approximately RMB 5.49 million) for Olympic-related expenses, of which the budget for the torch relay guard cost was about 72 million yen (approximately RMB 4.39 million).
The torch relay will depart from Fukushima Prefecture on March 25.
Shimane Prefecture originally planned to implement it in 14 cities, towns and villages in the prefecture on May 15 and 16.