Since Chinese Taipei was awarded the General Assembly in June, the Local Organising Committee NPC Chinese Taipei has been developing COVID-19 countermeasures to ensure the health and safety of all attendees. The NPC felt they were very near agreement with the authorities on a bubble system for the General Assembly. However, upon speaking directly with the national authorities on Tuesday, the IPC were informed that all General Assembly delegates would in fact have to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. This is a non-practical solution for all concerned and the IPC has now decided to stage the event online.

Mike Peters, IPC Chief Executive Officer, said: “The health and well-being of all IPC members is of paramount importance and for the last five months we have been working with NPC Chinese Taipei to stage a safe General Assembly for all attendees.

“In the last weeks, the NPC has not been able to secure the entry requirements into Chinese Taipei whereby all General Assembly attendees would avoid quarantine and instead enter a bubble environment in order to minimise risk.

“Upon learning directly from national authorities that all guests arriving in Chinese Taipei would actually have to quarantine for two weeks, it became very clear that hosting an in-person General Assembly would not just be impractical but impossible. Therefore, with less than 40 days to go, the IPC Conference and General Assembly will now take place online on the originally planned dates.”

This year’s IPC General Assembly will feature elections for the IPC Governing Board with a total of 26 nominees standing for 12 available positions.

The IPC Governing Board will consist of one President, one Vice President, and 10 Members at Large. The IPC Athletes’ Council Chairperson is an ex-officio member.