2016 Games Face Greater Challenges than Zika, Says Olympic Committee CEO

 2016 Games Face Greater Challenges than Zika, Says Olympic Committee CEO

 

The mosquito-borne Zika virus "won't be a problem" in Rio de Janiero during the summer Olympic Games, according to Olympic Committee CEO Sidney Levy. "All the statistics show that in the winter

 months, the Zika mosquito doesn't proliferate," he told VOA's Carol Castiel in an interview conducted by in Washington. It is now winter in the southern hemisphere, where temperatures in Celsius are dipping

 into the high teens. Early this month, a group of 150 doctors, scientists and bioethicists wrote a letter to the World Health Organization calling for the Olympics, which begin Aug. 4, to be moved or postponed

 out of fear the Zika virus could spread. Several high-profile athletes, such as Irish golfer Rory Mcllroy and American basketball legend Lebron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers, have decided not to compete in Rio out of concern for the virus.   FILE - Sidney Levy, Olympic Committee CEO