Tokyo Olympics: Japan asks athletes from 6 countries for more Covid tests

The Japanese government, ahead of Tokyo Olympics, has asked India and other five other countries to test athletes daily before they depart for Tokyo. India is one of the five countries hit gravely by the virus. Currently, all overseas athletes are being asked to take the test twice during the four-day period. The Olympics will start on July 23 after a year’s delay due to the pandemic.

The new rule will be applied to athletes from India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan from July 1.

Olympics Minister Tamayo Marukawa said a member of the Ugandan Olympic team who tested positive for the coronavirus upon arrival had the Delta variant. This has raised a new concern for the Games.

As per the new guidelines, Indian athletes traveling to Tokyo for the Olympics will only need to upload Covid-19 negative RT-PCR test reports for 96 hours and 72 hours prior to their departure. The news came from the delegation’s deputy chef-de-mission, Dr Prem Verma.

These two reports have to be obtained from the accredited diagnostic centres and uploaded in an approved format as directed by the Games’ Organising Committee (OC). These accredited labs have been suggested by the OC in its Tokyo 2020 Playbook.

“Earlier, it was compulsory that 14 days prior to their departure to Tokyo, the athletes had to upload daily health records on the mobile app. Now, the uploading period has been reduced to only seven days. This means that you’ll have to monitor your health for 14 days but need to upload data for seven days. The Covid test report obtained for 96 hours and 72 hours prior to the departure has to be mandatorily uploaded on the health reporting app.

“Once an athlete uploads, it will automatically reach the immigration office and a QR code will be generated on the athletes’ smartphone. That QR code will be checked at the immigration when the athletes report at the airport.

“After clearing the immigration, another set of questions pertaining to the Customs will have to be answered. After answering them, another QR code will be generated. The athletes will show it to the Customs and, if everything is clear, they will board the flight,” Verma explained.

Verma also informed that for athletes not carrying smartphones, there’s a separate provision of filling up the spreadsheet with details of their Covid-19 testing for the last seven days prior to the departure.

“In such cases, the athletes will monitor their health for seven days and fill up the spreadsheet with their Covid-19 testing details. They will inform the Covid liaison officer of their concerned federations who will upload the spreadsheet on the web portal of the Tokyo 2020.”

“There’s one more thing to add that the officials in the SAI and the IOA have discussed and requested the concerned testing labs to collect swab samples of athletes for Covid testing from places where they are staying or undergoing training. This agreement has already been reached with most of the labs. This way we can ensure the safety of our athletes without breaking the bio-bubble or putting them at unnecessary risk of exposure,” he added.