Olympic athletes will be given daily tests for the coronavirus during their time in Tokyo for the delayed 2020 Games, organizers said on Wednesday, April 28.
They said a decision about whether to allow domestic spectators to attend would be taken in June.
All participants will need to take two coronavirus tests prior to arriving in Japan, the organizers, including the Tokyo 2020 committee and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said in a statement.
The organizers also said they would “deploy all possible countermeasures and place the highest priority on safety.”
Thomas Bach, head of the IOC, said he fully understood the decision to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo to fight the coronavirus pandemic, and was committed to holding a safe, successful Games.
Bach was speaking at the start of a meeting with Tokyo 2020 organizers on Wednesday to finalize the second edition of the “playbooks” of rules for the Summer Games, with less than three months to go and Japan battling a surge of coronavirus cases.
Parts of Japan including the capital were put under another state of emergency at the weekend, and most of the Japanese public think the Games, postponed from 2020 because of the pandemic, should be canceled or postponed again.
The emergency, which is due to last until May 11, requires restaurants and bars serving alcohol to close along with large stores, cinemas and other commercial facilities, asks firms to let staff work from home, and excludes spectators from big sports events.
Speaking by video link, Bach told organizers, including Tokyo 2020 president Seiko Hashimoto, that he understood the move, and that compliance with the playbooks, which lay out a number of anti-infection measures, would be strictly enforced.
“The IOC is fully committed to the successful and safe delivery of the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” he said.
An earlier edition of the rules, which came out in February, banned singing and chanting during events and mandated that event participants wear masks at all times except when sleeping, eating, or outdoors.
Spectators from overseas have already been excluded, but more than 10,000 athletes, coaches and their entourages are expected in July.
Though Japan has not suffered as badly from COVID-19 as many other countries, the infection rate has risen back to levels not seen since January, and more and more are from variant strains. On Wednesday, Tokyo reported 925 new cases.
The Games run from July 23 to August 8. – Rappler.com
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