The coronavirus outbreak is causing concern to world's top athletes and sports administrators, and there are worries that this summer's Olympic Games in Tokyo might be threatened.
There is talk of a "ghost games", held in empty stadiums, and even of a complete cancellation of the world's premier sporting event.
Or, will things have calmed down by then, allowing business to carry on as usual?
Five months before the start of the Olympic Games most of the sportsmen and women hoping to take part are preparing according to plan.
"We'll just keep on doing our job," Olympic javelin throwing champion Thomas Roehler told dpa, speaking for many of his fellow competitors.
But behind the composure, Roehler concedes that a Tokyo "ghost games" - in a city of 30 million people - is "a possible scenario - there is a sword of Damocles hanging over it."
And in Roehler's view, the Olympic Games in front of empty stadiums would be the worst-case scenario.
"Ghost games would be worse than a cancellation. The glamour and allure of the games would be lost," he said.
The problem, he said, is not the virus itself. "It's the travel. If someone so much as coughs on the plane, there's danger of a subsequent quarantine," the 28-year-old said.
"Then you're out of the picture for 14 days, isolated somewhere and can't train."
Amelie Ebert, a former synchronized swimmer who is the athlete representative on the Sports Committee of the German parliament, said: "Many athletes are currently acutely concerned about the topic of the upcoming qualification competitions.
"Travelling there is a risk at the moment, but the standards have to be met.
"The situation is changing from day to day, and it is almost impossible to assess it. Everyone is really tense. We don't know what's going to happen at present."
Decathlon world champion Niklas Kaul would understand a cancellation of the Games.
"Health comes first", said the 22-year-old in a Sport1 interview. A cancellation would be a pity, Kaul said, "but in the end, there's no point in having superlative Olympic Games with lots of fans and athletes which results in a rapid increase in corona infections."
Wrestling world and European champion Frank Stäbler hopes he'll be able to prepare for the Games - his last international competition - as planned.
"The Olympics are still far away. I hope that governments and health organizations will get a grip," said the 30-year-old.
Rudolf Scharping, the president of the Association of German Cyclists, said at the track cycling world championships in Berlin that he was assuming the Games will take place. "Anything else would be irresponsible speculation," he said.
Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe has called on Australia's athletes to reconsider their participation in the Olympics.
“I would most definitely be concerned,” Thorpe told reporters in Canberra on Thursday. “What we need to know is to use some of the best expert disease specialists to find out what is the risk to the team.
What is the risk to the other nations and how can we have an Olympic Games that doesn’t put athletes at risk?"
Five months before the start of the Games, Germany's Interior Minister Horst Seehofer - who's also the sports minister - advised patience.
"From my point of view there is no need to make a decision now," he said this week.
In Japan, 894 cases of infection had been confirmed by Thursday, including seven deaths. However, more than 700 of these cases involve passengers and crew members of the cruise ship "Diamond Princess".
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on the organizers of major sports and cultural events planned for the next two weeks to cancel or postpone them if necessary.
For Japan, he said, the next two weeks are a critical time to prevent an increase in infections. The German U-20 women's team cancelled their international match trip to Japan planned for next week.
The Olympic Games are to take place from July 24 to August 9. Approximately 11,000 athletes are expected, and another 4,400 are to compete in the Paralympics, which is due to open on August 25.
The IOC Coordination Commission is fully committed to the scheduled staging of the Games, IOC president Thomas Bach told Japanese media on Thursday, according to the Kyodo news agency. He added that he wouldn't speculate about alternatives.
