Tokyo Olympic torch relay section in Osaka to be canceled

Former members of Japan's women football team run as torchbearers on the first day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch relay at J-Village National Training Center in Futaba, Fukushima of Japan, on March 25, 2021. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool via Xinhua)

Tokyo Olympic torch relay in Osaka will be canceled.

TOKYO, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The Tokyo Olympic torch relay section due to be held in the city of Osaka in two weeks' time will be canceled due to a sharp rebound in COVID-19 cases, officials said on Thursday.

Japan's Kyodo news agency said that Osaka governor Hirofumi Yoshimura told reporters that the prefectural government will formally decide to cancel the relay's segment in the western Japanese city.

The torch relay began on March 25 and has just finished its first day's journey in Nagano, which hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics.

Osaka confirmed 616 new cases on Thursday, topping 600 for the first time since January 16.