Deputy head of Japan's Olympic Committee tests positive for coronavirus

The deputy head of Japan's Olympic Committee (JOC), Kozo Tashima, has tested positive for coronavirus. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics is due to take place in the country this summer.

Tashima, 62, is also the president of the Japanese Football Association (JFA), and had traveled to Britain, the Netherlands and the United States on official business from late February to early March, according to Kyodo News.

As well as his domestic administrative roles, Tashima also sat on the FIFA board of directors.

Toshifumi KITAMURA / AFP

The Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games is currently one of the few major international sporting events to still be going ahead as planned despite the COVID19 pandemic.

The Japanese government had been unanimous in their support to hold the event as planned in the last few days.

However, Japan prime minister Shinzo Abe on Monday gave the first hints the event could be postponed in comments made following a G-7 leaders’ video conference.

“I want to hold the Olympics and Paralympics perfectly, as proof that the human race will conquer the new coronavirus, and I gained support for that from the G-7 leaders,”he told reporters after the event, Time magazine reported.

The other major sporting event scheduled for this summer, the Euro 2020 championships, is expected to be officially postponed until 2021 by European football's governing body UEFA in an announcement on Tuesday.