The governing body also revealed that it will apply to the Italian Government for financial support to cover part of staff salaries.

Italy has the world's highest COVID-19 death toll - now in excess of 16,500 - and the IFSC is headquartered in Turin.

Costs are to be monitored and reduced if related to non-essential services, says the IFSC.

The action plan is the result of the IFSC Executive Board meeting electronically - something it intends to do weekly given the current climate.

Among the agreed principles is that any rescheduled event must be confirmed with at least 60 days' notice, allowing for organisers, athletes and officials to prepare adequately.

It was also confirmed that no IFSC competition will take place before July at the earliest.

Numerous events have already been postponed as a consequence of the pandemic, including the European Climbing Championships in Moscow, which were moved to June 15 until 22 but have now been postponed indefinitely.

The IFSC Sport Department has now been tasked with working on the calendar for the 2021 season, which will need to work around the rescheduled Olympics and is likely to include outstanding qualifying events.

July 23 is the new date for the Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony, with the Games set to come to an end on August 8. 

The final part of the four-point action plan stated that the IFSC will work alongside the International Olympic Committee and Tokyo 2020 organisers to review the processes related to the sport making its Olympic debut, including the promotion of sport climbing.

"We are living hard times and we live in uncertainty," IFSC President Marco Scolaris said.

"However, we are not going to give up and we are setting programmes with different options for the upcoming months, depending on circumstances. 

"We want to be ready when better days will come and we will climb the world again."