COVID-19 Threat: Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games handover ceremony to be done in an empty stadium

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games flame handover in Athens next week will be done in an empty stadium amid the coronavirus outbreak, Greece's Olympic Committee said on Sunday.

Greece on Friday cancelled the remainder of the domestic Olympic torch relay through the country to avoid attracting crowds a day after the Tokyo Games flame was lit in ancient Olympia.

"The Hellenic Olympic Committee has decided that the handover



ceremony for the "Tokyo 2020" Olympic Games, on Thursday, March 19, will take place at the Panathenaic Stadium behind closed doors," it said in a statement.

The central Athens stadium, site of the 1896 Games, usually attracts thousands of spectators to the handover ceremony to the next host city of winter and summer Games every two years.

Greece had three fatalities from the disease and 228 confirmed cases by late Saturday.