LONDON: Two major candidates in the London mayoral election in May suggested Wednesday that the city is ready to host the 2020 Summer Olympics if Tokyo is forced to give up hosting the Games due to a possible epidemic of the new coronavirus in Japan.

London, which hosted the 2012 Games, "can host the Olympics in 2020," Conservative challenger Shaun Bailey said on Twitter.

"We have the infrastructure and the experience. And due to the coronavirus outbreak, the world might need us to step up," Bailey said.

"As Mayor, I will make sure London is ready to answer the call and host the Olympics again," he said.

Local newspaper City A.M. reported a comment by a spokesman for Labor incumbent Sadiq Khan that London will do its best in the unlikely event that it be required, although everyone is working toward the success of the Tokyo Games.

In Britain, nine people have been confirmed to have the coronavirus, compared with more than 80 cases so far in Japan.

The counting in Japan does not include people who have been infected with the coronavirus on the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined by Japanese authorities at the port of Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.

Japan is facing growing criticism of its handling of the British-flagged ship, as the number of infections on the ship has exceeded 600, the largest cluster of infected people outside China.

On Friday, John Coates, chairman of the International Olympic Committee's Coordination Commission for the 2020 Games, told a press conference in Tokyo that the IOC has been told by the World Health Organization that there is no need to cancel or postpone the Tokyo Games.

At the news conference, Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo Games organizing committee, said the organizers are not considering holding the Games behind closed doors.

JIJI Press