 Welcome to NewsClick. Let's dive straight in to the story that is dominating headlines across the country and the world. It's not the communal virus. Unfortunately, we could spend a lot of time discussing that, but we're going to talk about the coronavirus. This has affected livelihoods, lives, economies. A huge number of people have been greatly distressed by it and it has caused like health scares around the world to a delirious level. And in the studio here, we have Dr. Rajat Chauhan, who just because he's a doctor is better qualified than anyone else to talk about this. And Leslie Xavier, who is not a doctor, but is still better qualified to talk about this because we are going to be talking about how coronavirus impacts sport. So let's dive straight in, coronavirus, Tokyo Olympics. Yeah. What's going on? Well, it's Japan, the almost 800 cases now reported. And they're attributing it to that quarantine ship that was Yokohama. The SS coronavirus. Yeah, outside Yokohama it was quarantine, but then the disease has spread from Yokohama city, but then it has reached Tokyo and other places as well. It has, so the scare is serious in so much so that they have canceled most of the Olympic trial competitions that are going to supposed to be held in testing the venues. And the latest was Tokyo marathon, which they did, I mean imagine a marathon being LBN closed doors, no spectators, nothing only elite runners taking part in it, highly sanitized. That must have felt like the Delhi marathon, right? Oh, Delhi marathon. I'm saying, you know. Mass participation, I mean, is the all mark of marathon. So that itself, it's symbolic, what has coronavirus done to the sporting world because it's dangerous, it's a very pretty serious, it's reaching pandemic proportions. And organizers have taken cognizance of it. So what Tokyo Olympics organizers are worried about is obviously the financial implications of this. So they are playing the IOC, International Olympic Committee as well as the Tokyo Olympic Games organizers are playing the waiting game, saying that they're hoping that a vaccine would be, scientists who are working on it, they would figure out a vaccine or they would be able to contain this virus or virus would, I mean, get into a natural. It'll die in April according to Donald Trump because you know, it gets a little warm. So that's the thing, that's where Dr. Rajat also comes in. There have been a lot of myths going around this virus and also the fact that in India we seem to be oblivious to the dangers around it. So Dr. So first Doc, like I wanna ask you, like is there's this one like alcoholic company? Is it, are we gonna get the virus if we drink it? No, it's okay, okay, great. That we are safe. So next, like you organize a sporting event. Yeah. So I wanna get like an insight from you about the implications of cancelling. Like even though the sporting event that you organize is not the level of the Olympics, but the economic implications of cancelling an event. And second, if you don't cancel and there is this health hazard going around, how do you communicate this to athletes? How do you make them feel safe? And I mean, just that whole thing also. Also how do you justify it? Yes, also, absolutely. Like safety hazard, right? Yeah, both sides, right? So I think my event or whether it's an Olympic event, you're building up over 10 years, at least. And suddenly a lot of lives are gonna be affected if you do cancel it. So the implications are gonna be massive. We're talking about bankruptcies across the board, countries, not just companies. So massive implications. Having said that, would you have that or would you have a million? Loss of human life. Yeah, exactly. Depends on who you are, I guess, to answer this question. Like I mean, if you're a guy who's, I don't know, the energy din manufacturer that is going to lose like millions. They're not bulletproof or coronavirus proof. It'll affect them as well. And how much money or any money can you take up there? I don't think so, any at all. So I think, no, money can't be first. Even whatever's happening in India with our communal virus versus, we need to be very clear that material is not going anywhere of any sorts, including money. So I think in any case, as much money as will be lost, I think lives come first because they're all countries are coming together. Imagine that. And it becomes the hub which can take it across the world. So if it wasn't a pandemic in the true sense, truest sense, it will be soon after the Olympics then. Just imagine that. So like if you, if they do cancel the Olympics then, there's obviously like an economic impact which is going to be massive. But I'm also like just thinking about the sporting impact. And this is like a really, like it seems like a really cheap thought to have. But what about all these athletes who've been preparing for their lives? So that's the, that's the... I mean, it's just wanna point out that the Olympics have only been canceled twice in the history of the modern games. And they were both during the world war, the second world war. So it's going to be a huge thing. So can you like less like? So the athletes themselves, they obviously look forward to their based their lives and the last four years building and trying to peak on the Olympic here and win a medal at the Olympics. So even being there for them is a big achievement as far as their resume is concerned. But then again, what they should question themselves is whether it's worth it. That's also a point. This is as far as athletes are concerned. Of course, this is not in their own hands. They can probably make a personal choice if at all the games go ahead and there are still dangers. The virus is not contained there. There's no vaccine as such and it's still dangerous to go out there. Then they can probably make personal choices like many athletes do. But even for instance, last Olympic games, Zika virus outbreak was there and there were a few athletes who chose to stay out of it. Some prominent golfers didn't go for the golf event at the games there in Rio. So personal choices they can make, obviously. And I feel that the athletes should make those personal choices, conveying and expressing the right message, saying that we are taking cognizance of this and we are doing a selfless act and conveying this message to the larger masses saying that this is a serious issue, health issue. This is like a big thing because you're talking about like athletes now speaking up and providing awareness to people. Which brings me to the next thing, which is Indian athletes. India refused to participate in an event recently because of... Shooting, let's call it out. Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna say it's shooting, right? And because they didn't want to risk their athlete's health because of this global scare. They're having a shooting world cup now here. They've decided to not cancel it. So I was checking with someone connected with the organizers this morning about the shooting world cup that's gonna start in March 16 year at the Karnising shooting range in Delhi. So we're saying that as far as we're concerned now, the event is on the green. We are gonna conduct it. Six teams are pulled out of the event already. And last month, India didn't send its shotgun shooting team to Cyplus. The same international shooting for ISS F... Did they need the shotguns here or what was it? Yeah, maybe. Yeah, yeah. That's a larger topic that we can discuss, I guess. But... So they didn't send a team there and Cyplus at that point, even now, I guess, even till date, there's not been a reported case there. There have been quarantines because they're careful about whoever has traveled to Italy for instance and all that. So, but otherwise there has not been a case. There have been reported cases in Delhi, by the way, as of today morning. Yeah, yeah. And so, what the shooting federation had cited at that point was that there have been directives to us from the health officials and also we don't want to risk our athletes. So, are the athletes not on risk when these foreign athletes will come here? Foreign shooters will come here, traveling by whatever destination that they're traveling by and then... I mean, it's open season then, open shooting season if you call them because anybody can be a carrier. So actually, perfect. So, dog, I want to... Also, this can also be a nice little bit for just the viewers watching this, all seven of them. Whether... What the basic methods of contracting this is, how you can prevent this? Like, can you just give me a basic idea of how, say, athletes could contract this and this would also apply to normal people. And also, whether being in a stadium atmosphere where thousands can't win, does it magnify the chances? I mean, essentially, it's like you're in a crowd. You're in a crowded space. And here's this thing that... So, to be honest, no one is very sure. It's too new. And the way... What we really figured so far around we as doctors, the medical fraternity, coughing and sneezing, being the biggest, so the droplets having the virus on it goes wherever it does when you do that. And seeing masks is really helping much because it's 900th the size of a human hair is what this virus is. So if you're wearing just those surgical masks, useless. Like, coming here, we're taken over. The guy was wearing a mask. And I was like, you know what? It will not help you. If it does come along, this is not going to be helpful. Second thing is what CDC and what WHO is saying, one says three feet, the other one says at least six feet away if someone is infected. One you don't know who's infected. Because someone who's turned to be negative on a test would yet be positive. In the sense that he has the virus. I think a gestational period is something around 20 days. I mean, I don't mean to insinuate anything, but on an Iranian talk show, there was a gentleman on the talk show saying that the virus is under control. And three days later, he was dead. No, not dead. He was reported to have contracted it. No, I think one of them similar story where the guy was, I think is gone. I think, all right? If I remember. My point being that you're in a crowded space. So that's what three to six feet is what we are talking about. So one organization says three is safe. The other one says no, no, six feet. So CDC versus WHO types I'm talking about. So very renowned, really know what they're talking about. So let's say six feet, okay? If you're in a crowd, where do you have six feet around you? You don't have a balloon that you're carrying and you sit within and then do this thing. The big thing that we're talking about is two ways, is hands. So keep washing your hands with soap, water. That's far better than what you started off with the alcohol bit. So alcohol, sanitizers are good. People are saying, but this is a virus. This is not a bacteria. Those sanitizers are better for bacteria, true. But it's not rhino virus that you're talking about. So it will be, it is actually, it can be killed by if it is more than 60% alcohol content in it. So don't try making it at home because then you can get skin irritations and allergies and all that or whatever else. But regular things that are available out there, commercially available, sanitizers, they do the job. Easiest one, wash your hands with soap. So keep doing that on a very regular basis. Other one, which we all, what Leslie just did, touching the face, that's being said to be, please be careful with because nose, eyes and the mouth, the mucus wherever is coming from. We tend to touch 50% when we touch our face. We're touching around there. So the mucus has been touched. So if you've contacted somewhere else, it's gone in. And you're now infected or will be. So start simple things, holding a pen for example. So it stops touching the face a lot more. And a study that was done on small numbers of people, it showed that up to 25, 24 to 25 times in an hour, we are touching our faces. And this was done on medical students. So if people just try working on these two, please, that'll be good. Masks similar to whatever Delhi guys are used to with pollution, stick to your mask like that. We are super experts at that. So stick to masks which are worthy of something rather than just the surgical masks. But then, so you mentioned that it would be beneficial for our viewers. And I believe that most of our viewers are Indians. But then if you look at Indian sports organizers, they seem to have not taken this seriously at all. Even the government has not taken it seriously, they have suggested. Because in Indian sports venues, who goes to see them? They do. If you don't take it now. IPL season is coming up, will they cancel IPL? IPL is big, I mean it's a huge crowd. So I'm talking about ISL which is happening now. I mean, there is a crowd. I know only 10 people go there, but 10 is 10. But yet, where are the six feet? Even when those 10 are there, we are still closer than that. And as we speak, our boxers are competing in the Asian Olympic qualifiers. Wrestlers are gonna compete in the coming month in Kazakhstan and they've shifted the venue from China. Both the competitions were supposed to happen in China. They shifted to other venues, but that doesn't mean that those venues are safe because it's nothing is safe anymore. Globally, Dr. was telling earlier, globally 90,000. 91,000 as of yesterday, as of today. There are reported cases, but there are many which are... 3,000. So actually, I love the shooting federation of India because they have provided us with a great solution anyway. Shoot. Which is that, for all of you who watch a little bit of the sports news, you know that now the Commonwealth shooting championships will be separated from the Commonwealth Games because Birmingham didn't have a shooting venue, so India is gonna host it and it'll be added on to the final medial stally. I believe the Olympics should be like that. Every country should host their own. So the decisions will be contained, I think. It'll be contained in that country. So we can have, like, Coco and Kabaddi. We're willing to host. We'll win, too. Sir, the economic pressures of hosting are... This is slightly on a tangent, but it's connected also. I'll bring it there. Economic pressures of hosting a multi-sport discipline is huge and cities are... Hardly any cities now come forward to bid to start with. Olympic Games is still happening. Winter Olympics, people are struggling again. And no one breaks even. Forget making a profit, no one breaks even. And that... So in the near future, in the far future, I'm not sure how many years will this model of games survive. We may see localized competitions more than in any case. It's heading that way because multi-sport is financially becoming very enviable. And that brings us to Tokyo and how much money they have spent. And on record, they say that it's 9 billion US dollars, 1 million, 1 trillion yen. And that's on record because I'm sure there is some kind of... I mean, it's much more. But it's significant... So there will be hidden costs also, which I like. Significantly lesser than what the cost was, for instance, in Beijing. Beijing was a huge spectacle. 45 billion US dollars. And I think Sochi Games was much higher than that, I think. Obviously, Russians. I mean, yeah, also, like, I believe that Tokyo must have had a certain set of infrastructure in place, which has probably helped them just... Just upgradation and production. No, the upgradations have been that they have built state-of-the-art new technology, but they have also invested in stuff which would... I mean, legacy idea is much more huge among Japanese in general. So they have planned it in such a way that these things are going to last. For instance, the network that they have created for public transport. The driverless car network on the road that they have created, the things that... So it's not only the games. It's not about the games as such, but then the money that has been spent, they were hoping to get it back via the games in this thing. Tourism. Yeah, tourism. And post that, sustainable tourism, sustained footfalls in tourism. Japan is big in tourism in any case, and their tourism industry has suffered. I was reading a bit about the economy in Japan, and they are slowly hitting recession. That's why... And the economics in that country is already worried. They have... The government has pumped in some kind of rescue package, unlike our government who don't believe that there is a slowdown at all. They have... There is a rescue package for unemployed youth in this country also. Yeah, yeah. No, but... You get to do World Cup shooting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, but see, it's been happening even before the March or 6th March or whatever it is, right? We've been practicing it on the streets. So, you know... So, and then beyond that, beyond the implications for Japan, there is also an implication for global sports. So the financial gains or the percentage of financial gain that the International Olympic Committee gets from each Olympic Games, they give it back to the sport. They give it back to global sport. They give it back to countries, federations for development of grassroots, development of sporting infrastructure in areas where sport... I mean, in countries where it's very difficult to build that infrastructure on their own. So that... So that... I mean, this crisis, and if at all this leads to a cancellation, that's going to impact not just the immediate investors in it, but it's going to impact the future at a larger level of sport. So that is a larger implication as such. But yeah, future of sport versus the future of humankind that way, because we are talking about lives here as a two. So that's the question. And we have to take that call and we have to take a serious call. And the serious call is that... Sport can wait for now because we have to be careful about it. We have to protect our people, protect our athletes and give out the right signal also. We care about our lives. Last winter, they held a cricket match at the... During the height of smoke here, India versus Bangladesh, 50,000 people in the stadium breathing this. Players getting sick, playing in the ground. And the organizers, the BCCI, they just showed that they don't care. I just want to say that those players who are getting sick were outsiders. Yeah. Okay, they were not our guys. No, but seriously, you see, talking about sports, Olympics, all that, we know how much is it today, amateur versus very professional, very capitalistic backed. It doesn't anymore about let's play a fair game. I mean, who's winning anything being fair, politics to sports. So, point is, we've gone beyond whatever Olympics stands for. It could very well be the last Olympics, if at all. Maybe last is already gone. Big deal. Because the point really is, in this rat race, we've spoiled whatever Olympics stands for. So, if we are going to do regional stuff, particular sports in particular regions, so be it there. We are really risking, are we talking about one-tenth humanity being wiped out just because of Olympics? It's a simple question to answer then. If it's going to be like that, I mean, what money are we talking about? It can be as serious as that. I think this is a story that's still developing. There is like, the IOC, there has been members of the committee who've come out and said that they are actually looking at cancelling the Olympics. Cut-off is May. They say that we'll wait till May to take a final call. Yeah, I would say, yeah. But I'm just, whenever I think about cancelling the Olympics and all the sense that you guys have just talked about and just, I mean, the amount of common sense it makes, all I can think about is that picture when the Tokyo Olympic Committee, that bit for the Olympics, the joy on their faces when they won the bit, all I keep flashing back is that. And I keep thinking about all those athletes for whom it's a dream to play at the Olympics. But of course, sometimes sports has to take a backseat. This is a story that's still developing. We'll keep updating you as and when we get to know more and as and when things unfold. Thanks for watching. Stay safe.