The Tokyo Olympics are to be delayed by a year in the first postponement since the modern Games began in the 19th century, becoming the biggest global event to be disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he and International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach agreed in a telephone call last night to delay the Games, which were scheduled to begin in July.
“The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will not be canceled,” Abe told reporters in Tokyo after the call, adding that they would be held by the summer of next year.
The coronavirus pandemic has made it all but impossible for aspiring Olympians to train and, in many cases, qualify for a July event.
Abe said that he received 100 percent support from Bach to delay the international sports event.
They agreed to work closely to hold the Games in complete form, symbolizing humanity’s victory over the coronavirus, he said.
Meanwhile, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said in Geneva that there had been a “very large acceleration” in coronavirus infections in the US, which had the potential of becoming the new epicenter.
Over the previous 24 hours, 85 percent of new cases were from Europe and the US, she told reporters, adding that 40 percent were from the US.
Asked whether the US could become the new epicenter, Harris said: “We are now seeing a very large acceleration in cases in the US So it does have that potential. We cannot say that is the case yet but it does have that potential.”
China’s Hubei Province, the original epicenter of the outbreak, is to lift travel curbs on people leaving the area, but other regions are to tighten controls as new cases doubled on Monday from Sunday to 78 due to imported infections.
The provincial capital, Wuhan, which has been in total lockdown since Jan. 23, would see its travel restrictions lifted on April 8.
On the economic side, business activity this month collapsed from Australia and Japan to western Europe at a record pace, with data for the US later yesterday expected to be just as dire.
“The coronavirus outbreak represents a major external shock to the macro outlook, akin to a large-scale natural disaster,” analysts at the Blackrock Investment Institute said.
Confirmed coronavirus cases exceeded 377,000 across 194 countries and territories as of early yesterday, a Reuters tally showed, with more than 16,500 deaths linked to the virus.
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