© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Women wearing protective face masks, following an outbreak of the coronavirus, walk past countdown clocks for the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and The Tokyo Paralympic 2020 at a building in TokyoTOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Olympics minister said the country is committed to hosting the summer games as planned from July even as the coronavirus outbreak spread to new parts of the country.
“Cancellation or delay of the Games would be unacceptable for the athletes,” Seiko Hashimoto said in parliament on Thursday. “An environment where athletes can feel at ease and focus should be firmly prepared.”
Japan’s western prefecture of Shiga reported its first coronavirus infection on Thursday, a day after the announcement of a first case in the southern prefecture of Miyazaki.
Confirmed coronavirus infections have risen above 1,000 nationwide, with 36 new cases reported Wednesday – the biggest one-day increase to…
