The organizing committee for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games declared on Feb. 17 the event's official motto: "United by Emotion." However, the COVID-19 outbreak signals fear.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should be soaking up good press this year in the run-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but the coronavirus outbreak that has spread from China to far off areas of Japan has Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party on guard.
The novel coronavirus has been diagnosed in 75,000, killed 2,014 and prompted over 50 countries and territories to close entry from people from China.
Japan has been undergoing a two-week hiatus of public events across the country, which have led to major changes and cancelations of sporting events. The launching of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo is still unclear.
Japan's nearly $30 billion investment in a few weeks of sporting events might just vanish. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is also receiving bad rep for his lack of responsiveness to the crisis.
Japan has no fallback plans for this July's Olympic Games, should they possibly get derailed by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. Officials are taking the initiative to slow the spread of the disease.
The organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics answered supposition that the global epidemic could lead to the cancellation of the Summer Games.
The local organizing committee released a statement, "Tokyo 2020 will continue to collaborate with all relevant organisations which carefully monitor any incidence of infectious diseases and will review any countermeasures that may be necessary with all relevant organisations."
They added that the rest is speculation.
Terrence Burns, a consultant to organizations vying to host the Olympic Games, said, discussions of potential disruptions to the event were fairly narrow in scope: mostly natural disasters, like earthquakes or fires, and, more recently, terrorist attacks.
Also read: China Coronavirus Outbreak: Critics Blame Government for Secrecy of Info, Control of Media
He said he has never witnessed an Olympic organizing committee asking, "Are you prepared for a global pandemic?"
Some people in Japan are calling for the Olympics to be postponed or moved to another venue, emulating the example of many other major events.
Abe and other government officials have insisted the tournament, with 11,000 competitors and multi-billion dollar investments from television and other sponsors, will still push through. In addition, Abe's chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said Japan had the "full confidence" of the International Olympic Committee.
The deadly virus has already surpassed the combined death toll of SARS and MERS.
The next few weeks will settle whether containment efforts can prevent COVID-19 from becoming the "black swan event" that derailes the economy.
The chill on the total of visitos across Asia already risk making the Olympic Games, due to take place on July 4, a subdued affair.
The cost of Tokyo 2020 is identified by economists as "opportunity cost."
The Olympic torch relay culminating the start of the Games could be scaled back to limit spreading the disease.
Japan's Hokkaido prefecture, set off to hold Olympic marathons, announced a state of emergency because of the virus.
