corona virus:2020 Tokyo Olympics

코로나19 확산 일로…도쿄 올림픽도 불안감 증폭

With the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics just five months away from kicking off in the Japanese capital,… the COVID-19 outbreak is raising concerns about whether the world’s biggest and most-celebrated sporting event might have to be called off.
Lee Seung-jae reports.
The Tokyo Marathon scheduled for March 1st will be held on a much smaller scale than originally planned this year in the light of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Roughly 38-thousand amateur runners will not be allowed to participate,… instead it’ll be limited to only 200 elite runners and wheelchair participants.
However, the bigger concern is the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games that’s scheduled to start on July 24th.
As the COVID-19 outbreak is not yet under control,… there are concerns over whether the event could even take place.
The WHO says it hasn’t made a decision on the matter.
“We have not offered advice to the IOC for the Olympics one way or the other, and neither would we. It is not the role of WHO to call off or not call off any event. It is the role of WHO to offer technical advice, to support a considered a multi-layered risk assessment around an event, to offer advice on risk reduction and risk mitigation measures, to offer advice on risk response measures and it is the decision of hosting countries and the organizing agencies to make that decision.”
According to the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee chairman,… the committee isn’t even considering cancelling or delaying the event,… and will press on with the Olympics regardless.
Citing a Japanese virologist,… the New York Post reported on Wednesday,… that if the Olympics were to happen tomorrow,… they would have to be cancelled.
The Tokyo organizing committee and the IOC have reiterated that they’re going to continue following the advice of the WHO.
It raises the possibility that, if the outbreak spreads further,… the Tokyo 2020 Olympics could be postponed or completely called off.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.

#COVID19 #coronavirus #Olympics

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