The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo are set to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to an official.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Dick Pound said the ‘postponement has been decided’.

Speaking to USA Today Sports, he said: “On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided.

“The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know.”

The IOC has given itself a four-week deadline to decide on the fate of the Games, but former swimming champion Pound said he expected the IOC to officially announce its next steps shortly.

He said: “It will come in stages. We will postpone this and begin to deal with all the ramifications of moving this, which are immense.”

The Games were due to take place in the Japanese capital from 24 July to 9 August, but pressure has been mounting on the IOC to postpone it.

Canada and Australia have already announced that they will be withdrawing from the Games and the chairman of the British Olympic Association, Hugh Robertson, said he expected Britain to be ‘joining shortly’.

He said: “We can’t see any way that this can go ahead as things are constituted. I expect we will be joining Canada and Australia shortly.

“I think it is very simple. If the virus continues as predicted by the government, I don’t think there is any way we can send a team.

“First, I don’t see any way that the athletes and Team GB could be ready by then. Elite training facilities are perfectly understandably and quite correctly closed around the country, so there is no way they could undertake the preparation they need to get ready for a Games.

“Secondly, there is the appropriateness of holding an Olympic Games at a time like this. We are actually in a process where we are talking to all our sports. We will complete that over the next couple of days.”