WHO says it fully supports decision to postpone 2020 Olympics

The giant Olympic rings are seen in the dusk through a tree at the waterfront area at Odaiba Marine Park after postponing Games due to the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID 19), in Tokyo, Japan March 25, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato

The World Health Organization (WHO) fully supported the decision to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Japan due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, it said on Wednesday.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, said it had been a "difficult but wise decision" taken so as to safeguard the health of athletes and spectators.

"We provide public health advice. The decision to postpone the Olympics was made by the IOC and the Japanese government, wholely and solely," Michael Ryan, WHO's top emergencies expert told a news conference. "But we fully support that decision."

FILE PHOTO: Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference on the situation of the coronavirus (COVID-2019), in Geneva, Switzerland, February 28, 2020. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

(Reporting by John Revill and Stephanie Nebehay)