Noise that this year's Tokyo Olympics will be cancelled is getting louder, an outcome that wouldn't be welcomed by the sporting world but, it seems, would be a Godsend for the people of Japan.
The country is dealing with a wave of Covid-19 infection and, according to a report in The Times newspaper, Japan's government has acknowledged a painful truth about an event that has already been postponed once.
Publicly, officials say the Games are going full-steam ahead for July and August, but The Times' Tokyo correspondent - Richard Lloyd Parry - says a cancellation is almost inevitable.