The 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which is set to start on July 23, registered a fourth COVID-19 positive case on Monday as the Summer Games sponsor Toyota said that it will not run any Games-related TV ads during the Olympics as the event struggles for support just days before the opening ceremony.

A Czech beach volleyball player became the fourth case and the third infected athlete in the Village, where thousands of competitors are living in a biosecure “bubble”.

The 2020 Games will get underway on Friday in a near-empty Olympic Stadium with Tokyo under a state of emergency due to a spike in coronavirus cases.

The latest Asahi Shimbun newspaper poll found a majority of respondents, 55%, were against holding the Games this summer, with 33% in favour, news agency AFP reported.

Although the final build-up for the Games has not been smooth, officials are hopeful that the negative public opinion of the people will change once the event starts.

In a sign of the current sentiment Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, said it will not run Olympics-related TV ads, and its executives will not be present at the opening ceremony.

“Toyota officials will not attend the opening ceremony, and the chief reason behind it is there will be no spectators,” Toyota spokeswoman Shiori Hashimoto told AFP.

Fewer than 1,000 Olympic officials and VIPs including sponsors will be allowed to watch the opening ceremony on Friday, according to Japanese media.

Toyota’s operating officer Jun Nagata earlier told reporters it was becoming more difficult for the Olympics to strike a positive chord with the public.

“It is turning into an Olympics that cannot get understanding (from the public) in various ways,” Nagata told Japanese media.

Organisers insisted the Village was safe despite the diagnosis of Czech beach volleyball player Ondrej Perusic, which follows positive tests from two South African footballers and a video analyst.

Twenty-one members of the South African men’s football contingent are in isolation after being named as close contacts, disrupting preparations for their opening game on Thursday against Japan.

Tokyo 2020 spokesman Masa Takaya said there have been 61 positive cases connected with the Games so far — a tiny fraction of the thousands of tests carried out.

“The IOC and Tokyo 2020 are absolutely clear that the Olympic Village is a safe place to stay,” Takaya told reporters.