Abe Tells Trump Japan Preparing for 2020 Olympics in Line With Initial Plans – Reports

TOKYO (Sputnik) – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told US President Donald Trump, who had earlier called to delay the 2020 Summer Olympics over the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that Japan was preparing for the games in line with its initial plans, Kyodo reported on Friday.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that Abe held a phone conversation with Trump, telling the US president that Japan was making every effort to hold the Olympics on time, the Kyodo news agency reported. Trump said that he looked favourably on the Japanese efforts.

Trump and Abe also reportedly discussed the measures needed to fight the further spread of COVID-19.

The US president later confirmed that he had a phone conversation with Abe.

"Just had a great conversation with Prime Minister Abe of Japan. I told him that the just completed Olympic venue is magnificent. He has done an incredible job, one that will make him very proud. Good things will happen for Japan and their great Prime Minister. Lots of options!" the US president wrote on his Twitter page.

The news comes after Japanese organising committee board member Haruyuki Takahashi on Wednesday told The Wall Street Journal that the 2020 Summer Olympics may be postponed for one or two years over the COVID-19 outbreak, but not cancelled.

 

Kenjiro Sano, designer of Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games logos, explains about the designs during a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, August 5, 2015

© REUTERS / Yuya Shino

A source in the Greek Olympic Committee stated on the same day that all decisions regarding the Olympic Games in Tokyo would be made in May. On Thursday, Trump said that the games should be postponed for a year.

The coronavirus disease was first detected in Wuhan, China's Hubei Province, in late December, and has since spread worldwide. Japan has confirmed 676 domestic cases of the disease with 19 fatalities. On Wednesday, World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the COVID-19 outbreak could be characterised as a pandemic.