TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th March, 2020) Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike said on Thursday that the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) would have an impact on discussions about the 2020 Summer Olympics, but pointed out that the games would not be canceled.
On Wednesday, Japanese organizing committee board member Haruyuki Takahashi told The Wall Street Journal that the 2020 Summer Olympics may be postponed for one or two years over the COVID-19 outbreak, but not canceled. A source in the Greek Olympic Committee told Sputnik on the same day that all decisions regarding the Olympic Games in Tokyo would be made in May.
"I think there will be some impact, but the cancellation is impossible," Koike said, as quoted by the Kyodo news agency.
She expressed Tokyo's readiness to boost cooperation with the national organizing committee and the International Olympic Committee in light of the COIVD-19 outbreak.
The coronavirus disease was first detected in Wuhan, China's Hubei province, in late December, and has since spread worldwide. More than 126,000 people have been infected with COVID-19, with over 4,600 having died and 67,000 recovered.
On Wednesday, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the COVID-19 outbreak could be characterized as a pandemic.
