The European Union (EU) and Japan said they backed the holding of a “safe and secure” Olympic Games despite calls for the event to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We support the holding of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in a safe and secure manner as a symbol of global unity in defeating Covid-19,” the two sides said in a statement following a video summit between EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel and Japan’s PM Yoshihide Suga.