Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promised that Tokyo will host the Olympic Games as planned in July. - Eugene Hoshiko / AP / SIPA

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promised that Tokyo will host the Olympic Games as planned in July, despite concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, which has resulted in the cancellation of many cultural and sporting events around the world. He said he had no immediate plans to declare a state of emergency in the face of the spread of the virus which infected more than 700 people in Japan and killed 21.

"We want to organize the Olympics as planned, without problems, by controlling the spread" of the virus, said the head of the Japanese government at a press conference, two days after the American president Donald Trump had suggested a postponement of one year of the Games planned in Japan. “We are in close coordination with the officials concerned, including the IOC (International Olympic Committee). There is no change on this, "he continued.

"No visibility on whether or not to maintain the Games", says Maracineanu via @ 20minutesSport https://t.co/7m7ZSOwEut

- 20 Minutes Sport (@ 20minutesSport) March 13, 2020

The global pandemic linked to the new coronavirus which has infected more than 140,000 people around the world and has killed more than 5,400 has caused in recent days a cascade of suspension or cancellation of major sporting events and relaunched questions about the opportunity to maintain the Games.

But since the development of the epidemic in Asia, then in the rest of the world, the organizers, the Japanese government and the IOC repeat that preparations are continuing and exclude any postponement or cancellation.

What about qualifying events?

Shinzo Abe spoke to Donald Trump on Friday after the latter spoke about the Olympics. "We have agreed that Japan and the United States will cooperate and coordinate closely for the success of the Games," said the Japanese Prime Minister, assuring that a delay had not been mentioned in the discussion.

IOC boss Thomas Bach said Thursday that his organization would follow the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding a possible postponement. However, he acknowledged that the cancellation, due to the epidemic, of certain sports competitions serving as qualifying events, already posed "serious problems".

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Coronavirus: Japanese Minister for the Olympics it is "inconceivable" to postpone or cancel the event

  • Sport
  • Coronavirus
  • Olympic Games
  • OJ 2020
  • Japan