Covid-19 | Tokyo Olympic head says IOC president’s visit to Japan could be 'tough'

IOC President Thomas Bach plans to go to Hiroshima to meet the torch relay — and presumably to Tokyo — on May 17 and 18.

The president of the Tokyo Olympic organising committee said on Friday that a visit to Japan this month by IOC President Thomas Bach seemed unlikely with a state of emergency order being extended by the government to Tokyo and other areas until May 31. Canceling the trip could be embarrassing for the International Olympic Committee and local organisers who say they can hold a "safe and secure" Olympics in the middle of a pandemic as cases surge in Japan — particularly in Tokyo and Japan's second metropolis of Osaka. The postponed Olympics is to open in only 11 weeks, on July 23, followed by the Paralympics on August 24.