COVID-19: No further postponement in Tokyo Olympics

By Fatih Erel

ISTANBUL (AA) - The postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics might only be canceled if the coronavirus pandemic would not be over by the rescheduled date in 2021, the head of the organization said on Tuesday.

On March 30, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was postponed for a year to be held between the dates of July 23 and Aug. 8, 2021.

A further postponement would be impossible, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics President Yoshiro Mori said in an interview with Japan's Nikkan Sports daily.

According to Mori, Tokyo Olympics could not be delayed again even until 2022.

If the coronavirus pandemic would remain as a threat by the next year, in that case, Tokyo Olympics would be canceled, Mori said.

Without a vaccine against the new coronavirus, it would be hard to host even the postponed Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2021, the Japan Medical Association President Yoshitake Yokokura also told reporters in a video press briefing on Tuesday.

The novel coronavirus has spread to 185 countries and regions since emerging in China last December, with the US and Europe the hardest-hit areas in the world.

Over 3 million cases have been reported worldwide, with the death toll near almost 215,000 with more than 920,000 recoveries, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the US.

Japan reported 385 deaths from the virus with 13,614 cases, 1,899 recoveries.