The WHO on Friday said it was not advising the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on whether the Tokyo Olympics should go ahead this year amid the COVID-19 outbreak in China.
However, WHO Health Emergencies Programme executive director Michael Ryan said the UN agency could offer technical advice on how to handle possible risks around the event.
“We have not offered advice to the IOC for the Olympics one way or the other, and neither would we. It’s not the role of WHO to call off or not call off any event,” Ryan said at a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland. “It’s the decision of hosting countries and the organizing agencies to make that decision.”
Photo: AFP
The head of the IOC coordination commission earlier on Friday said that there was no danger of Tokyo 2020 being canceled or moved.
“The advice we have received from the World Health Organization is that there is no case for a contingency plan to cancel or move the Games,” John Coates told reporters after a project review meeting.
Ryan said that the WHO regularly offered technical advice to countries hosting all kinds of mass gatherings, such as sporting events or religious festivals.
“At this stage, there has been no specific discussion or no specific decision made regarding any of those mass events in the coming months, but we stand ready to offer both member states hosting events and organizations organizing events to offer them the best mechanism and risk assessment approaches that we have,” he said.
The COVID-19 outbreak has killed nearly 1,400 people and infected about 64,000 people — most of them in China.
Two dozen countries, including Japan, have confirmed cases of the disease.
In Japan, actress Satomi Ishihara yesterday performed the first “torch kiss” handover of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics torch relay during a rehearsal on the outskirts of the capital.
Ishihara’s handover in Hamura City formed part of a dress rehearsal for Tokyo 2020 organizers, who mimicked three legs of the relay that is to last for 121 days in the build up to the Olympics.
Hundreds of people lined the streets of Hamura to watch the event, which was complete with sponsorship floats and a heavy security presence as organizers looked to iron out any issues.
“There are many purposes of the rehearsal,” Tokyo 2020 spokesman Masa Takaya told reporters. “Today’s rehearsal is focused on the entire operation. This will be the first and last time we do it.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
FIFA on Friday blamed the empty seats during the FIFA World Cup match between South Korea and the Czech Republic in Guadalajara, Mexico, on fans who watched from the concourses. There were many visible empty spots at the 45,664-capacity Guadalajara Stadium, with sections in the middle of the stands showing many unoccupied spaces and with other empty seats scattered around the venue. The announced attendance was 44,985 — including FIFA president Gianni Infantino. “Official attendance figures reflect the number of tickets scanned and spectators present within the stadium footprint, rather than visual assessments of seating occupancy at any given moment
Japan captain Wataru Endo on Thursday was ruled out of the FIFA World Cup with injury and announced his international retirement, three days before his team’s opener against the Netherlands. The Liverpool midfielder pulled out of the tournament after failing to recover from a foot injury and was replaced in Japan’s squad by Shuto Machino. The 33-year-old Endo said on social media that he was “frustrated” at not being able to play, but backed his team to impress in Group F, where they face the Netherlands, Tunisia and Sweden. “There will definitely come a time in the future when Japan win the World
A rotting body was found on Friday in the trunk of a car parked near the stadium where Iran’s FIFA World Cup team is training in Mexico. The gruesome discovery came with games under way in the tournament, which is being jointly hosted by Mexico, the US and Canada. Reporters watched as police in Tijuana opened the trunk of the gray Toyota SUV, which had California plates, in the parking lot of a supermarket directly across from the Caliente Stadium, where Team Melli are training as they prepare for three games in the US. Specialists in white protective suits worked
About 100 people gathered at a bar in Taipei to watch the FIFA World Cup start in Mexico, despite the early hour of 3am yesterday. All seats had been reserved before the game started, said a clerk at the Brass Monkey, a bar in Taipei where customers can watch live sports broadcasts. The Group A clash between Mexico and South Africa drew supporters from multiple continents to the venue. For Misael Alanis, a Mexican student who has lived in Taiwan for two-and-a-half years, the atmosphere was just as important as the game itself. “There are a lot of Mexicans here and you can tell
RSS