U.S. President Donald Trump has floated the idea of delaying for a year the Summer Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo amid the global spread of the novel coronavirus. 

Meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar at the White House on Thursday, Trump also said he hopes to quickly restore normal travel conditions to China and Europe.

Regarding the Summer Olympic Games, the U.S. president reportedly said he believes it is possible to postpone them as he can’t see not having people there. 

According to Reuters, Trump said that delaying the Olympics for a year would be a better alternative than doing it with no crowd. 

As early as March 3, when asked about Japan's hosting of the Olympics this year, Trump said he's leaving the decision to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who he called a "friend."

Trump reportedly also explained that he was unable to give European Union leaders advanced notice of the U.S. travel ban imposed a day earlier since it would have taken too much time. He also said Britain was exempted from the ban because it is handling COVID-19 well.