After being created by World Athletics and the International Institute for Race Medicine (IIRM) in April, it also chairs medical experts from five other global sports Federations.

These are the International Cycling Union, World Triathlon, International Ski Federation, World Rowing and the International Paralympic Committee.

It also chairs a seat for the World Health Organization (WHO) expert group on mass gatherings, with the International Olympic Committee also sitting as observers. 

Based on WHO's advice on mass gatherings, the tool allows organisers to establish the necessary steps to be taken in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

These sports in particular share a common thread of hosting mass crowds in often unseated and unrestricted gatherings such as marathons.

World Athletics medical manager Paolo Emilio Adami said: "Using the tool will not solve the COVID-19 outbreak, or other infectious diseases, but it will guide event organisers through a process that should become a habit and should be done before every event.

"There will never be zero risk for infectious diseases but we want to help event organisers to reduce the risk to an acceptable level."

Competition organisers are also asked to liaise with local authorities to ensure proper regulations are put in place for hosting events.

"For us working together with other major International Federations on how to improve our events to guarantee the health and safety of all participants is extremely important," said Gergely Markus, World Triathlon sport director.

"This tool, combined with the guidelines that we have already produced for all our event organisers, and the webinars that we are conducting to explain the new measures to all organisers, will indeed help the community to go back to organising events when we return to activity."