The 2020 Tokyo Marathon has been canceled for all non-professional runners due to the coronavirus.
The Tokyo Marathon Foundation said in a statement Monday that after a case of the deadly virus was confirmed in Tokyo, the decision was made to limit the number of participants in the annual race.
The race will now only be held for the marathon elite and the wheelchair elites, the statement said.
The foundation is allowing all registered runners to defer their entry to the 2021 Tokyo Marathon. They will still be required to pay the entry fee for that event.
As of Tuesday, the death toll in China from the coronavirus has reached 1,868, while Japan recorded its first death several days ago, NBC News and USA Today reported.
The U.S. currently has 29 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country. 14 of them came from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama, Japan, and were placed in segregated areas on a chartered flight that flew back to the U.S on Sunday.
There was a total of 340 Americans on board, and had all been quarantined on the cruise ship in Yokohama for nearly two weeks. The flight landed Monday morning at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California, and all passengers on board have been placed in a 14-day quarantine.
Of the previously confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the U.S., seven were in California. The other cases confirmed were in Seattle; Phoenix; Madison, Wisconsin; Chicago and Boston.
However, the CDC emphasizes that Americans should not panic, saying that the risk of contracting coronavirus is still “low,” with the relatively few cases in the U.S.
Worldwide, there are over 43,000 confirmed cases as of Tuesday, with the majority occurring in mainland China.
Coronavirus is a blanket term for several respiratory illnesses, ranging from the common cold to more severe viruses such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Symptoms typically include fever, cough, trouble breathing, headache and sore throat.
For people who have severe cases, it can turn into pneumonia, SARS, kidney failure and death, according to the World Health Organization.
Source: Read Full Article