Coates says Tokyo Games face 'real problems' due to COVID-19

FILE PHOTO: International Olympic Committee member John Coates attends the International Olympic Committee (IOC) 135th Session in Lausanne, Switzerland, January 10, 2020. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Tokyo Games organisers face "real problems" staging the Olympics next year as coronavirus infections continue to soar, senior international Olympic official John Coates said.

Coates, Australia's Olympic chief and head of the International Olympic Committee's inspectorate for Tokyo, said organisers had to assume there would be no vaccine for COVID-19, or none in sufficient quantity, in time for the Games.