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
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