Tokyo (AFP)

Tokyo Olympics organizers adapt to coronavirus threat: Tuesday decided to cut festivities around Olympic Torch Relay, while senior Japanese Olympic committee official tested positive for Covid-19 .

"It's a heartbreak for us", regretted the executive director of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, Toshiro Muto, presenting the measures taken to prevent the spread of the pandemic during the course of the flame Across the country.

The "great departure" of the Olympic torch relay on March 26 from the Fukushima region (northeast) will be done without spectators.

The route through all the prefectures of the country remains unchanged and spectators will still be able to attend the relay along the route, but the start and finish ceremonies at each stage will be closed to the public.

The flame welcoming ceremonies by the municipalities on the course will be canceled.

The organizers also asked spectators who would not feel well to refrain from following the relay from the side of the road.

Finally, the temperature of each torchbearer will be taken and those with fever will be prevented from running.

These measures come against a background of growing doubts about the advisability of maintaining the Tokyo Olympics from July 24 to August 9, when many sports competitions have been canceled around the world, including qualification tests for the OJ, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

- "Excessive congestion" -

For the first time since 1984, the Olympic flame was lit last Thursday in the absence of spectators at the ancient Greek site of Olympia, due to the risk of spreading the coronavirus.

The torch relay in Greece was then interrupted the next day, due to too many spectators in Sparta, despite repeated recommendations to the public not to gather.

"Avoid forming crowds," also asked organizers in Japan, where 824 cases of coronavirus contamination and 28 deaths have been recorded, warning that the relay program could be modified in the event of "excessive congestion".

Muto reiterated on Tuesday that the Olympics would be held "as scheduled" in Tokyo, while admitting that the situation "is changing from hour to hour".

One of the two vice-presidents of the Japanese Olympic Committee, Kozo Tashima, also president of the Japanese Football Federation (JFA), announced Tuesday that he had tested positive for the new coronavirus.

In a press release, Tashima explained that he had traveled to Europe and then to the United States between February 28 and March 8 for business meetings, having notably attended UEFA meetings in early March in Amsterdam.

"In Amsterdam and Europe in early March, the level of nervousness towards the new coronavirus was not the same as now. Everyone was still hugging, shaking hands or kissing" explained Mr. Tashima.

© 2020 AFP