WHO rejects call by Health Experts to Postpone Rio Olympics

According to over 150 global health experts, the summer's Rio de Janeiro Olympics should be moved or postponed due to Zika virus prevalence.

In an open letter to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the experts, including a former White House adviser, called into question the two organisations' close relationship and asked for the Games to be moved to another location or postponed "in the name of public health".

The letter cites that the Zika virus has more serious medical consequences than previously known and that the emergency contains "many uncertainties".

One co-author told the Press Association that if this year's Games went ahead, it risked becoming "the Olympics of brain damage".

WHO had declared the Zika epidemic to be a global emergency in February and in its latest assessment this week, said it "does not see an overall decline in the outbreak".

The experts, many of whom have worked with the WHO, also voiced concerns over the relationship between the UN's health agency and the IOC, who they said entered an official partnership in 2010.

Co-author of the letter, professor Amir Attaran called the partnership "beyond the pale" and called into question the independence of the WHO.

He said: "It is ignorant and arrogant for the WHO to march hand-in-hand with the IOC. How can it be ethical to increase the risk of spreading the virus?

WHO rejects Postponement of the Rio Olympics

In a related, development, World Health Organization says there is "no public health justification" for postponing or cancelling the Rio de Janeiro Olympics because of the Zika outbreak.

WHO, however, said that "based on current assessment, cancelling or changing the location of the 2016 Olympics will not significantly alter the international spread of Zika virus."

The Geneva-based UN health agency argued that Brazil is one of almost 60 countries and territories which are reporting transmission of the virus by mosquitoes, and that "people continue to travel between these countries and territories for a variety of reasons."

"Based on the current assessment of Zika virus circulating in almost 60 countries globally and 39 in the Americas, there is no public health justification for postponing or cancelling the games," it said. "WHO will continue to monitor the situation and update our advice as necessary."

It pointed to existing advice for pregnant women not to travel to areas with Zika virus transmission, among other recommendations.

Its statement made no direct reference to Friday's letter, which also pointed to what it called an "overly close" relationship between the agency and the International Olympic Committee.