TOKYO -- Suggestions by a senior International Olympics Committee member that the Tokyo Games could be canceled if the coronavirus outbreak is not contained by May drew a swift reaction from Japanese officials, while sponsoring companies are anxiously awaiting the fate of the world's biggest sporting event.
Comments by committee member Dick Pound regarding a possible cancellation "are not an official announcement by the IOC," Seiko Hashimoto, Minister for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, told Japan's House of Representatives on Wednesday. The minister stressed that the IOC has told the Tokyo Organizing Committee that it is working to hold the Games in July as scheduled.
