This year’s postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games due to the outbreak of the coronavirus cost about $1.9bn, organisers have estimated.

The International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government were forced to put off the Games for a year in March as the coronavirus spread rapidly around the world.

The Games cost $13bn before the postponement, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Sunday, citing people involved with the event.

The organising committee will decide on a breakdown of the burden of the delay in December, after discussions between the committee, the Tokyo metropolitan government and the central government, the newspaper said.

A spokesperson for the organisers, asked about the report, told Reuters by text message only that the committee is examining the extra costs associated with the delay.

The postponement costs include payment to staff as well as the introduction of new systems for refunding tickets but do not include measures against the spread of the coronavirus, the newspaper said.