Around 3,500 city volunteers have quit Tokyo Games

TOKYO - About 3,500 out of more than 40,000 volunteers have withdrawn from their role as city guides for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Japan's state broadcaster NHK said that according to the withdrawal numbers released by nine out of the 11 hosting prefectural governments that recruited city volunteers, Chiba Prefecture topped the list with 1,083 withdrawals by the end of last month, followed by Miyagi with about 800 and Fukushima with about 630.

The total is expected to increase when Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture confirm their numbers, NHK reported.

It said that many withdrew because of concerns about the risk of COVID-19 infections and the others said that they no longer had any reason to participate because overseas spectators were not allowed to enter Japan during the games.

Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto revealed earlier this week that about 10,000 people have withdrawn as Tokyo Olympic volunteers, accounting for more than 10 percent of the 80,000 people who signed up to do volunteer work at venues and other locations.