Tokyo governor relieved at postponed Olympics

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike expressed a sense of relief on Wednesday after the announcement that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be postponed. On Tuesday, the International Olympic Committee and Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee said that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and IOC President Thomas Bach agreed to postpone the Tokyo Games until 2021 based on the World Health Organization's view on the latest development on the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Koike stressed that stopping the spread of the virus in Tokyo was of utmost priority but acknowledged work to postpone the games was "going to be tough".

The Tokyo Games, slated for 11,000 athletes from more than 200 countries and at a reported cost of $28 billion, had been scheduled to start July 24.

They will now be pushed into 2021 on dates to be determined.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

The new coronavirus has caused a global pandemic that has sickened at least 422,000, killed 18,900 worldwide, crippled economies and forced restrictions on the movement of millions of people in an effort to stop the virus from spreading further and overwhelming health care systems.