Tokyo 2020 organisers announce tougher COVID countermeasures

TOKYO: Organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Wednesday announced tougher coronavirus countermeasures such as daily testing of athletes to try to reassure an increasingly sceptical Japanese public already facing a resurgence of COVID-19.

With under three months to go before the postponed Games, Japan's vaccination drive lags other wealthy nations, raising safety concerns among citizens and athletes, and complicating the future for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who has repeatedly vowed the Games will go ahead. The organisers, including the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Japanese government and the International Paralympic Committee, said in a joint statement that they would "deploy all possible countermeasures and place the highest priority on safety".