Tokyo Olympics organizers to cancel countdown event

The organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics plans to scrap a large-scale one-year countdown event as part of efforts to cut costs related to the Games' postponement, public broadcaster NHK reported on Friday.

Committee sources say the countdown event cannot take place as the risk of infection remains.

The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics have been postponed until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Olympics are now scheduled to open on July 23, 2021, with the Paralympics kicking off just over one month later.

Organizers and Tokyo officials face the twin headaches of ensuring the postponed Games can be held safely, given the pandemic, and keeping additional costs to a minimum.

But with the pandemic continuing to rage in much of the world, it remains unclear whether the Games can be held next year.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said it would be "difficult" to hold the postponed Tokyo Olympics if the coronavirus pandemic is not contained.

And Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori has said the Olympics would have to be canceled if the pandemic isn't under control by next year.

The new coronavirus has infected more than 6.5 million people and killed about 393,000 around the world. Japan has reported some 17,000 infections and 900 known deaths to date.