Cases continue to rise in Japan, where less than 2 per cenr of the population has been fully vaccinated.

The petition campaign — called “Stop Tokyo Olympics” — was drafted by well-known lawyer Kenji Utsunomiya, who has also run for governor of Tokyo.

He said the response was surprising but acknowledged that this was too little, and probably too late.

“I think that the media coverage puts a lot of pressure on the IOC, the International Paralympic Committee, the Japanese government, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and the organising committee,” Utsunomiya said at a news conference.

“So in that sense, I am glad I did it. However, in terms of the numbers, I think that tens of millions of signatures are really necessary.”

Utsunomiya said the Olympics would divert medical services from the general public, which has been a rising concern as hospitals come under strains that could get worse as the games approach.

Organisers and the IOC say they will hold the games safely, isolating 15,400 Olympic and Paralympic athletes in a “bubble” and repeatedly testing them and the tens of thousands of others — judges, staff, sponsors, media, and broadcasters — who will enter a country that has had its borders sealed for a year.

Japan has attributed about 11,000 deaths to COVID-19, good by world standards but poor in Asia where places like Taiwan and South Korea have been more successful.

There is no indication the Olympics will be cancelled with billions of dollars riding on it, although there has been opposition from the local medical community.

Last month, the British Medical Journal suggested the games be “reconsidered.”

The IOC relies on selling broadcast rights for almost 75% of its income — 18% more is from sponsors — and Japan has officially spent $15.4 billion to organise the Olympics.

A government audit has suggested the number might be twice that large.

Seiko Hashimoto, the president of the Tokyo organising committee, was pressed on Japan’s stretched medical system at her weekly briefing on Friday — held separately from the petition submission.

Organisers have said several times said they will need 10,000 medical participants to staff the Olympics.

But Hashimoto hedged this time on the numbers and the size of the staff needed.

Organisers have also been looking for nurses to volunteer, and sports medicine specialists.

This crunch comes as at least two prefectures near Tokyo — Ibaraki and Chiba — have said they will not be able to treat Olympic participants who fall ill.

Another prefecture, Kanagawa, suggested something similar.