IOC’s Bach: Refugees Will Be Honored at Rio Olympics

But a team of refugees at the Rio Games would be a first.

“They are trying to be as smart about what they can do”.

New Zealand has joined the chorus of fears for women of childbearing age – spectators and athletes – to reconsider their plans to travel to the Rio Olympics.

World Health Organization director-general Margaret Chan said: “The level of alarm is extremely high”.

Zika is causing a widening health scare across tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, where it has spread to more than 20 countries.

The World Health Organization says it is convening an emergency committee on Monday to decide if the Zika virus outbreak should be declared an global health emergency.

A group of Brazilian activists, lawyers and scientists, meanwhile, is due to deliver a petition to Brazil’s Supreme Court in two months’ time asking to allow abortions for women who have contracted the virus.

Brazil’s Health Ministry said in November that Zika is linked to a foetal deformation known as microcephaly, in which infants are born with abnormally small heads and brains.

The first South American country to host the Olympics is also having to deal with the mosquito-borne Zika virus outbreak.

This week in Rio de Janeiro, more than 3,000 city workers have been spraying insecticide and searching for mosquitoes in preparation for the upcoming festivities. All efforts will be taken to insure that insecticide is not spread in areas with sporting equipment and other materials used by sportspeople during the Games.

Petersen said that women who are pregnant or considering getting pregnant should avoid traveling to countries associated with the Zika outbreak, including Brazil.

Brazil has already begun spraying potential mosquito breeding sites ahead of Carnival, which attracts hundreds of thousands of people.

Health officials say the number of USA residents diagnosed with Zika infections in the past year has grown to 31.

But travel agents and hotel operators in Brazil say that, while they are receiving a lot of questions about the precautions the government is taking, the Zika scare has yet to lead to many cancellations from would-be visitors. Recommendations included using mosquito repellent and wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants.

The NIAID said it would also consider supporting Zika vaccine manufacture, explaining that under its “preclinical services programme [the] NIH has gap-filling resources for vaccine development that could be utilized to evaluate and manufacture a Zika vaccine candidate”.

In a statement released on Friday, the New Zealand Olympic Committee reiterated government advice to team members.