BRASILIA: There is no risk of cancelling the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this year due to an outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil, which has been linked to birth defects in newborns, President Dilma Rousseff's chief of staff said on Monday.

"We have to explain to those coming to Brazil, the athletes, that there is zero risk if you are not a pregnant women," Rousseff's chief of staff, Jaques Wagner, told reporters.