Japan requires daily covid-19 tests from India and UK at Games

Japan’s government has created two groups of countries whose delegations will be required to undergo coronavirus testing daily for seven days in the case of India, or every three days as in the United Kingdom, before traveling to Tokyo for the Olympics.

This measure, according to the Japanese authorities, is justified by the “high level of risk due to the occurrence of variants” of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The first group includes Afghanistan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Delegations from these countries, including athletes, technical committees, officials, referees and journalists, must undergo a daily coronavirus test for seven days before traveling to Japan, during which time runners may not train with representatives of other countries.

When they arrive on Japanese soil, the athletes and their entourage will also be tested daily. In the first three days of their presence in the Asian country, they would also not be able to interact or train with members of other delegations.

The countries at risk in group 2 are Bangladesh, Egypt, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. In this case, Olympic participants will need to go through the controls in the three days prior to their trip to Japan and in the three days following their arrival, as well as avoid contact with people from other countries during this period.

“These groups are subject to change,” the Japanese government warned in a document sent to international federations. The correspondence continues: “The Japanese government, like many others, has set specific rules for travelers from some countries where different types of Covid-19 have been identified, in an effort to control the virus and prevent its spread.”

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