YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS. Japan can postpone the 2020 Summer Olympic Games for up to one year due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported.

The organizers can postpone the Games by one year because in 2022 the Winter Olympics should take place in Beijing.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will soon hold a phone conversation with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach to discuss the matter, and much depends on this conversation.

The 32nd Summer Olympic Games are scheduled to take place in Tokyo from July 24 to August 9.

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. WHO declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global pandemic and named the virus COVID-19. 

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan