Amid fears surrounding the global spread of COVID-19, the organizers of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Thursday announced that Japan's softball game against Australia shall be held on July 22 as the first event on the schedule of the upcoming Summer Olympics in the country.

The game shall begin 9:00 a.m. local time (0000 GMT) at the Fukushima Azuma Baseball Stadium, with two more fixtures, Italy vs United States and Mexico vs Canada, scheduled for later that day. 

It will also mark the first day of action for the Games, which will officially kick off with an opening ceremony on July 24.

The announcement comes amid concerns and uncertainties surrounding the novel coronavirus outbreak, which was labelled a pandemic by the WHO on Wednesday.

An organizing committee member said late on Wednesday that any decision to delay the Olympics should be made before May, but Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga on Thursday clarified that there was no change in the Games' plan. 

Meanwhile, the torch lighting ceremony of Tokyo 2020, scheduled to be held in ancient Olympia, will be without spectators, and children will not be in attendance, as previously planned, when the Olympic flame arrives in Japan on March 20. 

So far, the Japanese Health Ministry has registered 620 cases of COVID-19 and 15 deaths, excluding people on a cruise ship that was quarantined near Yokohama last month.