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Japanese PM hopes Olympics will be held as planned

March 15, 2020

TOKYO, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said here on Saturday that Tokyo will host the Olympics and Paralympics as scheduled.

"We hope to overcome the spread of infections first and foremost and hold the Olympics as planned without a hitch," Abe said.

The preparations for the Olympic Games has been hit hard since the outbreak of the coronavirus in January. The Olympic torch relay in Greece was suspended on Friday by the Greek Olympic Committee fearful of the potential spread of the virus among the enthusiastic crowd.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="900"] A pedestrian wearing mask walks past the Olympic rings in Tokyo, Japan, March 12, 2020. Japan's health ministry and local governments said Friday the number of COVID-19 infections rose by 21 to 697 cases in Japan as of 6:30 p.m. local time here.  (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi)[/caption]

The Tokyo organizers have promised to hold the torch relay in Japan as planned. The flame will arrive in Japan on March 20 and the torch relay kicks off in Fukushima on March 26.

"I'd like to go to Fukushima to witness the start of the Olympic torch relay," Abe said.  ■

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