The Games are still scheduled to run from July 23 to August 8 in Japan.

Japanese chief cabinet secretary Katsunobu Kato said on Tuesday that Tokyo believes there is no change in US support for holding the Olympics despite the State Department's advisory against traveling to Japan.

"We have also received an explanation from the United States that the decision to raise the travel advisory level (to Japan) to Level 4 is not related to the dispatch of the athletes from the United States," Kato told reporters at a news conference.

Its vaccine rollout has been slow compared with other places in Asia because of a shortage of medical professionals and a lack of syringes. Only about 2% of Japanese citizens have gotten at least one shot of the vaccine.

The government plans to open large-scale vaccination facilities in Osaka and Tokyo to speed up the process. The Health Ministry formally approved two Covid-19 vaccines (Moderna and AstraZeneca) on May 21.

There's been mounting pressure to postpone the Games again.

Japan isn't the only nation to get Level 4 advisory from the State Department.

The tropical island nation of Sri Lanka, off the southeast of Covid-ravaged India, was also elevated to "Level 4, Do Not Travel" on Monday. Other popular destinations that have been open to US tourists through much of the pandemic also have a Level 4 warning, including Mexico, Brazil and Turkey.

Source: CNN

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