A third of Japanese residents want Tokyo 2020 to be cancelled due to fears that incoming foreign travellers could cause another spike of COVID-19 cases, a new survey has revealed.

The poll conducted by public broadcaster NHK showed that 32 per cent of respondents wanted the Games scrapped completely.

Only 27 per cent said the Games should go ahead as scheduled, while 31 per cent favoured another delay.

The survey was conducted between December 11 and 13.

Tokyo 2020 was postponed by the International Olympic Committee in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Olympics are now scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 8 in 2021.

The new figures have changed from an NHK poll in October when 40 per cent said the Olympics should be held as planned and only 23 per cent backed cancellation.

Twenty-five per cent said they preferred further postponement in October. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga today suspended a travel subsidy programme which has been widely criticized.

Plans to allow people from overseas to attend Tokyo 2020 continue, however, with a number of COVID-19 prevention measures suggested.

The Mainichi Shimbun and the Social Survey Research Center polled the approval of Suga as Prime Minister on December 12, which resulted in just 40 per cent approval.

This was down 17 percentage points since the last survey in November.

Suga replaced Shinzō Abe as Japanese Prime Minister in September after Abe resigned due to health issues.

To date, there have been more than 179,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Japan, resulting in the deaths of more than 2,500 people.

The latest daily update showed more than 2,500 new cases, resulting in the deaths of 23 people.