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A group of renowned doctors and professors have written a letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) to postpone the summer Olympics 2016 that is set to be held at Rio de Janeiro. The healthcare professionals pointed out the potential risk of Zika virus outbreak in Brazil in their letter which the WHO later rejected.

It was written in the letter that Olympic Games can't fail however it is indispensible to consider the global health concern as well. The health advocates also noted that Brazilian Zika virus is observed to affect health like it was never witnessed before.

"We make this call despite the widespread fatalism that the Rio 2016 Games are inevitable or 'too big to fail,'" the writers said in the letter addressed to WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, according to CNN. "Our greater concern is for global health. The Brazilian strain of Zika virus harms health in ways that science has not observed before."

WHO that responded to the letter on Thursday said that 2016 Summer Olympics cannot be postponed or moved. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), noted that there is no alarming public health issue for the Olympics Games to be postponed.

"Canceling or changing the location of the 2016 Olympics will not significantly alter the international spread of Zika virus,r eported WHO in their statement." "Brazil is one of almost 60 countries and territories which to date report continuing transmission of Zika by mosquitoes. People continue to travel between these countries and territories for a variety of reasons. The best way to reduce risk of disease is to follow public health travel advice," read the statement, noted BBC.

CDC's public health travel advice has it that pregnant women should avoid travelling to countries that is affected by Zika outbreak and men that have contracted the virus should avoid having sex with their pregnant partners until delivery. Frieden also noted that WHO is working with USOC and Brazilian health authorities on the Zika virus issue and will update the public health travel advice if necessary.

Summer Olympics 2016 is scheduled to be held between 5 and 21 August.