More tests, but no quarantine

Tokyo Olympic organisers and the IOC are to unveil new plans this week to explain how 15,400 Olympic and Paralympic athletes can compete in Japan when the games open in three months in the midst of a pandemic.

The rollout of the second edition of the so-called ‘‘Playbooks’’ – an IOC guidebook explaining how the games can be pulled off – comes as Tokyo, Osaka and several other areas have been placed under a third state of emergency as coronavirus cases surge.

Japan, which has attributed about 10,000 deaths to Covid-19, has also been slow with local vaccination with about 1 per cent so far getting shots.

Organisers are expected to announce daily testing for athletes. They are also expected to drop a 14-day quarantine requirement, allowing athletes to train when they arrive. Athletes will be required to stay within a ‘‘bubble’’ consisting of the Olympic Village on Tokyo Bay, and venues and training areas.

Japan’s Kyodo news, citing unnamed sources, said athletes and staff will have to be tested twice within 96 hours before leaving home. They will also be tested upon arrival in Japan.

The Playbook for athletes is to be updated tomorrow, with Playbooks for media and others unveiled on Friday. A final edition of all Playbooks will be published in June.

Resistance to the Olympics in Japan is still running high with 70-80 per cent opposed in recent polls. Fans from abroad have already been barred, and organisers have put off until as late a June a decision on having any fans at all at Olympic venues.

Taro Kono, the minister in charge of vaccination in Japan, suggested earlier this month that empty venues was a probable option.

IOC President Thomas Bach last week said his plans to meet the torch relay in Hiroshima on May 17-18 are still not confirmed.

Bach’s arrival would be just days after the latest state of emergency ends on May 11.

The relay is scheduled to end at the National Stadium on July 23 for the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games.