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Japanese PM says impossible to hold Olympics amid coronavirus pandemic

Abe also expressed an intention to discuss the issue with IOC President Thomas Bach

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

© AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko

TOKYO, March 23. /TASS/. The current coronavirus situation makes it impossible to hold the Olympic Games in Tokyo according to the initial plan, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a speech to parliament on Monday.

"I believe that the current global conditions are unfavorable for holding the Olympics," he pointed out. Abe also expressed an intention to discuss the issue with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach.

Read also

Postponing Olympics for one year can entail losses of $5.8 bln

The Japanese prime minister said earlier on Monday that the Tokyo Summer Olympics might be postponed if the coronavirus situation made it impossible to hold the Games normally.

The 2020 Summer Olympics are scheduled to take place in the Japanese capital of Tokyo from July 24 to August 9. Bach said on Sunday that the IOC would make a decision on the tournament within the next four weeks. Meanwhile, Canada became the first country to announce that it would not send athletes to the Tokyo Games.

Coronavirus pandemic

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in more than 150 countries, including Russia.

On March 11, the WHO declared the outbreak a global pandemic. As of now, over 320,000 people have been infected around the world and more than 14,000 have died.

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