Tokyo 2020 organizers yesterday said that the Games would “go ahead as planned,” slamming misinformation over a new coronavirus for triggering panic.
CEO Toshiro Muto said that organizers have set up a task force to combat the fast-spreading disease that has killed more than 560 people and infected at least 28,000 — the vast majority in China — but promised that the Games would be not derailed.
“The Olympics will go ahead as planned,” he told reporters after a Paralympic project review.
“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,” he added.
International Paralympic Committee spokesman Craig Spence said that scaremongering had created an “info-demic” that could skew public perception in the run-up to the Olympics and Paralympics.
“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,” he added.
“The World Health Organization has not declared this a pandemic. We dealt with the Zika virus in [the 2016] Rio [de Janeiro Games] and in these matters we need to rely on the experts,” Spence said.
“We will follow the advice of the World Health Organization. Every organizing committee looks into countermeasures and we have measures in place from previous Olympics and Paralympics here in Tokyo,” he said.
“It is standard practice, it’s business as usual,” he added.
Japan has had no reported deaths so far, but 45 cases have been detected, including at least 20 people on a cruise ship carrying more than 3,700 passengers and crew quarantined off Yokohama.
Japan has warned citizens against nonessential travel to China and fast-tracked new rules, including limits on entering the country, as it tries to contain the spread of the virus.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged that preparations for the Olympics would proceed as normal.
“The coronavirus is beginning to have an impact on tourism,” he said. “But the government will continue to steadily prepare for the Games in close cooperation with the IOC [International Olympic Committee], the local organizing committee and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.”
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike over the weekend promised to implement “thorough measures” to protect people from the virus.
The health scare has led to the cancelation of Olympic qualifying events in China, such as boxing and badminton.
The Tokyo Olympics begin on July 24 and the Paralympics start on Aug. 25.
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