Organizers and IOC say no ‘Plan B’ for Olympics
Questions raised over Chinese presence
TOKYO, Feb 15, (AP): Tokyo Olympic organizers and the International Olympic Committee said Friday there is no “Plan B” for the 2020 Games, which open in just over five months and have been jolted by the outbreak of a virus in neighboring China.
The coronavirus has infected almost 64,000 people globally with almost 1,400 deaths in China, but only one in Japan where fear is rising with so much attention focused on the outbreak.
“Certainly the advice we’re received externally from the WHO (World Health Organization) is that there’s no case for any contingency plans or cancelling the games or moving the games,” John Coates, the head of an IOC inspection team, said to wrap up a two-day visit that was dominated by the virus issue.
Coates and Tokyo Olympic organizers took 11 questions at a news conference on Friday. All 11 were about the virus, or the presence of Chinese athletes in 19 remaining test events in Japan, or about Chinese fans, or repeated questions seeking reassurance the games will go ahead as planned.
A Japanese reporter asked Tokyo organizing committee President Yoshiro Mori if, given the fact the games are going ahead, would there be any “organizational changes” in how the games are run.
“No, at this stage, no. We are not thinking of any such possibility,” said Mori, a former Japanese prime minister, speaking in Japanese.
Mori, Coates and CEO Toshiro
Muto looked glum sitting at a head table taking essentially the same question over and over.
“We can confirm that Tokyo 2020 remains on track,” Coates said in his opening statement.
Coates was asked by a CNN reporter if he was 100% confident that the Tokyo Olympics would go on as scheduled and open on July 24.
“Yes,” he replied. Coates talked positively about keeping a close watch on Chinese athletes, and talked optimistically about their eventual presence in Tokyo, where they would probably field a team of 600 athletes - one of the largest delegations.
“We continue also to monitor, particularly the Chinese that will be coming here,” Coates said. “You’ll find that the Chinese teams are mostly out of China. That’s the athletes and officials.”
He didn’t offer any specific numbers.
Others away from the Olympic circle are uncertain what course the virus outbreak will take.
“Frankly speaking, there is no guarantee that the outbreak will come to an end before the Olympics because we have no scientific basis to be able to say that,” Shigeru Omi, a former regional director of the WHO and an infectious disease expert from Japan, said Thursday.
“So it is meaningless to predict a timing when it may come to an end,” he added. “We should assume that the virus has already been spreading in Japan. People should understand that we cannot only rely on border controls to prevent the spread of the disease.”
Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO chief of emergencies, said at a news conference Friday in Switzerland that WHO only offers technical advice and it’s up to the IOC and organizers to make decisions related to the Olympics.
“We have not offered advice to the IOC for the Olympics one way or another,” he said. “And neither would we. That’s not the role of WHO to call off - or not call off - any event. It is the role of WHO to offer technical advice.”
Mark Woolhouse, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, told The Associated Press in an email: “I don’t think anyone right now can confidently predict the state of affairs come late summer.”
“One slight word of caution,” he added. “Influenza is regarded as a winter infection in the northern hemisphere. But when we encountered a new strain in 2009-10 - pandemic strain, or swine flu - we did see cases in the summer months.”
That is not particularly good news, where many talk of the hot, humid Tokyo summer taking its toll on the virus.
‘Frankly speaking, there is no guarantee that the outbreak will come to an end before the Olympics because we have no scientific basis to be able to say that ’