(CNN) After insisting for weeks that the 2020 Olympic Games would go ahead as planned, Tokyo's Organizing Committee says that postponement is now a "realistic option."

Committee President Yoshiro Mori conceded that although the preference is to host the spectacle as normal in July, organizers would work alongside the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to explore alternatives amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

"Postponement isn't our first course of action but we cannot not consider it as a realistic option either," Mori said in a news conference Monday, ruling out the idea of canceling the event entirely.

It comes after the IOC executive board said Sunday it is considering postponing this summer's Games and has given itself a four-week deadline to make a decision.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also said a decision to postpone may be needed if the Games cannot be held in a complete form.

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