As Japan on Tuesday sought to play down the impact of a US travel warning on the Tokyo Olympics , one expert has warned it could “cause concern” for athletes from nations which lack resources to conduct pre-departure tests for their delegations. The US State Department on Monday raised its travel alert for Japan to the highest level of 4, telling citizens “even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk of getting and spreading Covid-19 variants”. The notice came amid growing domestic opposition to the Games. Olympics organisers reiterated a vow to “ensure the safe and secure participation of all athletes” after the alert, while Japanese officials said they still had the US government’s support for the event, which is scheduled to commence on July 23. “There is absolutely no change in the United States’ support for Japan’s decision to hold the Olympics , we believe,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato. The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) on Tuesday put a brave face on its government’s recommendation and said it still intended to send a team to Tokyo. “We feel confident that the current mitigation practices in place for athletes and staff by both the USOPC and the Tokyo Organising Committee, coupled with the testing before travel, on arrival in Japan and during Games Time, will allow for safe participation of Team US athletes this summer,” it said. The announcement came just after the US track and field team cancelled a pre-Olympic training camp in Chiba Prefecture designed to help 120 athletes acclimatise. Dozens of similar pre-Games training camps have been called off over Covid-19 concerns, either by the host communities or the foreign sporting authorities. Japan cuts size of foreign Olympics delegations as opposition to Games grows Kazuhiro Tateda, president of the Japan Association of Infectious Diseases and a member of the official Covid-19 advisory committee, warned that the government, local organisers and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were running out of time to confirm whether the Games could go ahead safely or should be cancelled. Tateda said US athletes would be among the safest coming into Japan for the Games as they would be regularly tested for Covid-19, but he noted not all nations would be able to do the same for their delegations, and that the US State Department’s warning would “cause concern”. “There will be an impact on other countries and I’m sure some developing nations will be worried about the situation here,” Tateda said. “The organisers and the government are coming very close to the point of no return for a decision on the Games, although their officials are consistently positive about everything going ahead as planned.” I’m sympathetic to the people of Japan and hope to reassure them that a lot of people are working very hard into making sure it is a safe bubble Chris Perry, Hong Kong rowing coach But Hong Kong rowing coach Chris Perry said based on his experience earlier this month in Japan, where he attended a rowing test and qualifying event, he felt the measures taken were suitably stringent. “During the test event, which I understand will be very similar to the Olympics, they were very thorough and implemented many restrictions from the moment we arrived until we left,” he said. “I’m not one of those people who says drive ahead at all costs, but I’m sympathetic to the people of Japan and hope to reassure them that a lot of people are working very hard into making sure it is a safe bubble,” Perry said. “There are international sporting events going on all over the world and all are using the bubble system.” Hong Kong Olympic triathlete Oscar Coggins said the US travel alert would lead some to believe the Games would likely be cancelled, but he was “confident” it could take place safely. “I have raced in Japan twice in the past month. One of those races was in Yokohama, just south of Tokyo, and from those experiences I had, I am pretty confident the IOC and the organisers in Japan have the ability to host the Olympics safely provided they follow all the protocols,” he said. Coggins, who is fully vaccinated, said the travel advisory had no bearing on his Olympics preparations. “I have to assume the Olympics are going ahead as planned. Although it would be extremely unfortunate if that wasn’t the case, I am in a fortunate scenario where I’m hoping this is going to be my first Olympics, and there are other races I need to prepare for in the future such as the All-China Games in September,” he said. Japan’s pandemic situation has seen some relatively positive signs in recent days, with 340 new cases reported in Tokyo on Monday, down 75 from the previous week. Similarly, Osaka on Monday recorded 216 new cases, the second straight day the total had been below the 300 threshold. While there are suggestions the fourth wave of the virus has peaked, Japan’s slow vaccine roll-out means the nation will not reach herd immunity by the time the Games begin. Tateda’s Covid-19 advisory panel will meet again on Friday to update the government on the latest virus developments. Are Tokyo, IOC running out of time to make a decision on the Olympics? Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is expected to extend the state of emergency in place in Tokyo and eight other prefectures that is due to expire on Monday, Tateda said. The end of the next state of emergency will likely be set for June 20 – about a month before the Games begin. “Our panel does not issue recommendations on the Olympics, but the information we do provide is strongly connected to the Games and will influence government thinking,” Tateda said. “And we are very worried the present situation could easily get worse again. “We don’t know how the virus is going to spread or change in the coming weeks, but it may well be that the panel recommends that the Games are cancelled simply to save lives,” he said. “These next couple of weeks are going to be critical.” The popularity of Suga has declined again to a record low, with just 31 per cent of respondents in a Mainichi newspaper poll saying he has done a passable job on handling the pandemic, delivering vaccines and pushing ahead with the Olympics. His disapproval rating stands at 59 per cent, up from 51 per cent just over a month ago. On Monday, a cabinet adviser resigned due to an outcry after he described the fourth wave of the pandemic as “a ripple”. Yoichi Takahashi, a professor at Kaetsu University, said in a Twitter message that other countries regarded Japan’s state of emergency as “nothing”. Public anger has also been directed at senior IOC officials, with vice-president John Coates saying during a press conference that the Games would “absolutely” go ahead even if the state of emergency were still in place. IOC President Thomas Bach may have hardened public opinion against the Games continuing as planned after the Indian news agency PTI quoted him as saying in a press conference that “sacrifices” would need to be made to ensure the Games go ahead. Additional reporting by Reuters, AFP, Nazvi Careem, Patrick Blennerhassett