COVID-19: Japan demands pre-departure testing for Olympic, Paralympic teams

Japan's government will ask Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics athletes and staff from overseas to be tested for the novel coronavirus twice within 96 hours of departure from their respective countries, multiple games sources said on Sunday.

An interim report by a government-led panel released last December concluded that travellers needed to be tested once within 72 hours of departure. The requirement for multiple negative tests is designed to tighten health screening during the immigration process, the sources said, as reported by Kyodo News.

Tokyo Games athletes and staff will also be tested at the airport upon their arrival in Japan.

The rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will open on July 23, with the closing ceremony taking place on August 8.

According to the Japanese news outlet, the issue is set to be discussed Wednesday by the games' coronavirus countermeasure panel and in an online meeting of the International Olympic, International Paralympic and local orgsing committees, and Tokyo's and Japan's governments.

The second editions of the Tokyo games' COVID-19 playbooks are scheduled to be released on Wednesday and Friday.

"The orgsing bodies have already settled on a basic policy of testing athletes daily after their arrival in Japan while allowing them to take part in training or competition during the 14-day quarantine period provided their movements are limited to the athletes' village and their training and competition venues," Kyodo News reported.

Individuals on IOC, national Olympic committee, international sports federation and media business will be tested daily for the first three days in Japan, the sources said.

Those individuals are to be tested less frequently thereafter, every four or seven days, for instance, depending on their level of contact with athletes. Through testing and restricting their contact with the public, these visitors will still be able to function during their initial quarantine period, according to Kyodo News.

( With inputs from ANI )

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