Despite the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus in China, Olympic organizers have come out stating that until the WHO declares it a pandemic, the event will “go ahead as planned” according to chief executive officer Toshiro Muto
Many major sporting events in China now having to be either suspended or rescheduled for the safety of competitors and the general public at large because of the outbreak.
Craig Spence who is the spokesman for the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) warned that rumours were causing unnecessary fear as he went on to tell reporters:
“It is important to remain objective and cool-headed. We don’t want to alarm the public. The infection is still limited and there is no problem staging the Olympics based on the current situation.”
Tokyo 2020 Olympics organisers said Thursday the Games would “go ahead as planned”, slamming misinformation over the new coronavirus for triggering panic.
Chief executive officer Toshiro Muto revealed that organisers have set up a task force to combat the fast-spreading disease that has killed over 560 people and infected at least 28,000 — the vast majority in mainland China — but promised that the Games would be not derailed from their July 24 start date.
“The Olympics will go ahead as planned,” he told reporters after a project review of the Paralympics, which are scheduled to take place after the Olympics.
“It is important to remain objective and cool-headed. We don’t want to alarm the public. The infection is still limited and there is no problem staging the Olympics based on the current situation.”
“Fear is spreading quicker than the virus,” he said. “It’s important we quell that fear. Only 191 of the total cases are outside mainland China, so let’s put things into perspective.
“If you compare those rates with the common flu, they are still relatively small numbers,”
“The World Health Organization (WHO) has not declared this a pandemic. We dealt with the Zika virus in Rio and in these matters we need to rely on the experts.”
“We will follow the advice of the World Health Organization. Every organising committee looks into countermeasures, and we have measures in place from previous Olympics and Paralympics here in Tokyo. It is standard practice, it’s business as usual.”
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The Coronavirus has now been declared a global health emergency by WHO, having already killed over 560 people with at least another 28,000 reported being infected.
