Brazil says there is no chance the Rio Olympics will be cancelled because of the Zika virus.

But pregnant women have been warned not to travel to the Games because of the risk it poses to their unborn babies.

The announcements, issued just over six months before the opening ceremony, came after the World Health Organization declared a global emergency over the mosquito-borne virus, suspected of causing microcephaly, or abnormally small heads and brain damage, in babies.

Amid growing concerns for the future of the Games, President Dilma Rousseff’s chief of staff Jaques Wagner yesterday insisted the Olympics would go ahead.