Organisers reported 10 new cases in total connected to the Olympics on Sunday including media, contractors and other personnel. That compares with 15 new cases on Saturday, which included the first case of infection at the Olympic Village, a complex of flats and dining areas that will house 6,700 athletes and officials at its peak.

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Tokyo 2020 Olympic Village opens to the media

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Village opens to the media

Meanwhile, the Tokyo metropolitan government reported 1,008 daily coronavirus cases on Sunday, topping the 1,000 mark for the fifth straight day and adding to signs that the capital is seeing a fifth wave of the virus. The figure compares with 1,410 infections confirmed the previous day, the highest single-day spike since January 21.

The seven-day rolling average of new cases in Tokyo, which is currently under a fourth Covid-19 state of emergency, was up 45.6 per cent from the previous week at 1,068 per day.

With the opening ceremony set to take place on Friday, public concern remains high that the games could become a superspreader event amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, first detected in India.

The disapproval rating rose to 49.8 per cent, the highest on record for the Suga administration. In the previous survey conducted last month, the support rate stood at 44.0 per cent, while 42.2 per cent disapproved of the cabinet.

Covid-19 cases rise despite Games pledge of 85 per cent vaccination rate

On Saturday, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach appealed for Japanese fans to get behind the Games, saying he was “very well aware of the scepticism” surrounding the event.

Many worry that increased precautions such as mandatory apps, GPS tracking and “minders” for Olympic visitors will not be nearly enough to stop the introduction of fast-spreading variants to a largely unvaccinated population already struggling with mounting cases.

But they are subject to a restrictive environment at the village, with daily testing, social distancing and no movement possible outside the Olympic “bubble”. They are under orders to leave Japan 48 hours after their event.

There have been regular breakdowns in security as the sheer enormity of trying to police so many visitors becomes clearer. Photos and social media posts show foreigners linked to the Games breaking mask rules and drinking in public, smoking in airports – even, if the bios are accurate, posting on dating apps.

“There are big holes in the bubbles,” said Ayaka Shiomura, another opposition lawmaker, speaking of the so-called “bubbles” that are supposed to separate the Olympics’ participants from the rest of the country.

But as the restrictions are tested by increasing numbers of visitors, officials have been blamed for doing too much, and too little.

The government and the Games’ organisers “are treating visitors as if they are potential criminals,” Chizuko Ueno, a professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Tokyo, said on YouTube.

There is also lingering resentment over a widespread sentiment that Japan is facing this balancing act because the International Olympic Committee needs to have the Games happen, regardless of the state of the virus, to get the billions of dollars in media revenue critical to its survival.

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“The Olympics are held as an IOC business. Not only the Japanese people, but others around the world, were turned off by the Olympics after all of us saw the true nature of the Olympics and the IOC through the pandemic,” mountaineer Ken Noguchi told the online edition of the Nikkan Gendai newspaper.

One of the highest-profile security problems came last month when a Ugandan team member arriving in Japan tested positive for what turned out to be the more contagious Delta variant. He was quarantined at the airport, but the rest of the nine-person team was allowed to travel more than 500km (300 miles) on a chartered bus to their pre-Olympics camp, where a second Ugandan tested positive, forcing the team and seven city officials and drivers who had close contact with them to self-isolate.

On Friday, a Uganda team member went missing, raising more questions about the oversight of Olympic participants. On Saturday, organisers said the first resident of the Olympic Village had tested positive for Covid-19. Officials said it was not an athlete, but was a non-resident of Japan.

For the first 14 days in Japan, Olympic visitors outside the athletes’ village are banned from using public transport and from going to bars, tourist spots and most restaurants. They cannot visit anywhere that is not specifically mentioned in activity plans submitted in advance. There are some exceptions authorised by organisers: specifically designated convenience stores, takeaway places and, in rare cases, some restaurants that have private rooms.

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The global spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19

The global spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19

Athletes, tested daily for the coronavirus, will be isolated in the athletes’ village and are expected to stay there, or in similarly locked-down bubbles at venues or training sites. Those who break the rules could be sent home or receive fines and lose the right to participate in the Games.

Everyone associated with the Olympics has to install two apps when entering Japan. One is an immigration and health reporting app, and the other is a contact tracing app that uses Bluetooth. They will also have to consent to allowing organisers to use GPS to monitor their movements and contacts through their smartphones if there’s an infection or violation of rules.

Reporting by Reuters, Kyodo Associated Press