The World Fears COVID-19, Paralympic Games' Twitter Account: Show Must Go On

The 2020 Summer Paralympics is scheduled as the 16th Summer Paralympic Games, planned to be held in Tokyo, Japan from 25 August to 6 September 2020.

The preparations for the Olympic Games have been hit since the outbreak of the novel Wuhan coronavirus in January. For example, the Olympic torch relay in Greece was suspended on Friday by the Greek Olympic Committee due to fears that the virus can spread among the crowd.

But the Tokyo organizers have promised to hold the torch relay in Japan, just as planned.

In its official Twitter account, the Games showed no stopping, even that the corinavirus pandemic has threatened many people and canceled many events around the world.

Japanese officials insisted that the Olympics should go on.

"Athletes should continue training hard for the Games and build their excitement for the Opening Ceremony and start of competition," wrote the International Paralympic Committee on its web page.

Tokyo 2020's social media is managed by an in-house team, which include staff members from Japan and foreigners.

The organizers said they were making every effort to respond to changing conditions as quickly as possible.

"Tokyo 2020 is actively engaged in updating the public with the latest information regarding its response to COVID-19 via briefings and press releases to the media, as well as through various owned and operated digital media," the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee said in a statement.

The COVID-19 virus has so far killed more than 5,600 people and infected over 150,000 people in more than 130 countries. Many countries are locking down their borders to prevent the spread of the disease.

With this fact, there have been speculation and suggestions the Olympics and Paralympics should be postponed or cancelled.

But Tokyo 2020 and the IOC have repeatedly insisted the Olympics will open as planned.

It's the way the organizers tried to not cancel the event from social media that garnered some negative comments.

The Paralympic Games are organized in parallel with the Olympic Games, dedicated as an international multi-sport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. Involving world class venues and a lot of people and athletes, the Games are considered the leader of all sporting events.

With how Paralympic manages to keep a happy face in the mid-coronavirus fears and many people's deaths, it was suggested that the organizers are somehow tone-deaf.

The Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe said that delaying the Games was "not even mentioned" on a telephone call he had with Donald Trump after the U.S. President suggested postponing them due to the virus.

"We hope to overcome the spread of infections first and foremost and hold the Olympics as planned without a hitch."

Abe also said that Japan, which has reported just under 800 cases of COVID-19 and 22 deaths, was following the advice of the World Health Organization (WHO), which declared the virus a pandemic, and did not declare it as a national emergency.

Any decision on a possible cancellation or postponement of Tokyo 2020 rests only at the hands of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Only IOC here has the right to terminate the Games should they not take place in 2020.

On March 17, it was announced that the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games have been canceled or postponed in 16 cities across Japan due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. It is estimated that Japan can see losss of ¥4 trillion.

The losses include the payments that have been paid to run the games, as well as the the money spent for spectators and purchases of television sets. In addition, benefits from Olympic and Paralympic legacies, such as those related to tourism, would evaporate.