Tokyo

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai said on Thursday that cancelling this summer's Tokyo Olympics may be an option if the spread of coronavirus infections forces organisers to think it would be difficult to hold the event.

Nikai, the No. 2 leader of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's ruling party, made the remark while recording a TV program yet to be aired, as reported by Kyodo News. "If it turns out that [holding the Olympics] is practically impossible, we will have nothing but to give up the idea," Nikai said, as quoted by the Kyodo news agency.

The Olympic Games in Tokyo, initially to be held in 2020, were postponed to July-August 2021 over the pandemic. The Japanese authorities announced a number of measures to limit the number of foreigners that will arrive in the country to visit the games, as reported by Sputnik.

Japan has confirmed more than 516,000 COVID-19 cases so far, with over 9,400 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. To date, more than 138.03 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 2.97 million fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University. Pakistan to ban Islamic party after violent protests.