Tokyo Organising Committee CEO Toshiro Muto said the coronavirus outbreak could endanger the 2020 Olympics if the spread of the disease could not be stopped.
Muto relayed his concerns about the mysterious disease that broke out in China last month at a Wednesday meeting with Paralympic Games officials in Tokyo, according to Reuters. The 2020 Summer Olympic Games are set to take place in Tokyo this year, beginning in late July.
“I am seriously concerned. … I hope this will be resolved as soon as possible,” Muto said, adding that the disease could throw “cold water over the growing momentum of the 2020 Games.”
The coronavirus appeared in the city of Wuhan, China, in January and has since spread to roughly two dozen countries. The death toll from the disease has risen to more than 500, and tens of thousands of cases have been confirmed globally. The vast majority of those infected and killed are in China.
China’s Ministry of Health reported its deadliest day from the disease on Monday. China’s number of fatalities increased by 64 to 425. The health ministry also reported 3,235 new cases, bringing the total number of infected to more than 20,000 in the country.
A crematorium worker in Wuhan said that workers were cremating the bodies of at least 100 victims a day who have died from the disease.
Eleven cases of the disease have been confirmed in the United States.
Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, expressed skepticism at the numbers China has reported and said the real death toll and number of infected is likely much higher than the Communist government is reporting.
“There was a 28% increase in coronavirus cases overnight in China. Make no mistake, though: These aren’t ‘new’ cases. Just what China is willing to admit. It’s much worse,” Cotton tweeted on Jan. 30.
