Athletes participating in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will be tested for the novel coronavirus on a daily basis, predominantly through saliva-based tests, in an effort to detect potential infections at an early stage, officials with knowledge of the planning said Tuesday.
The Japanese government and other organizers had earlier planned to conduct tests at least once every four days, as explained in the first edition of COVID-19 guidelines called the "playbook" released in February for athletes.
But the organizers have decided to increase the frequency of tests to strengthen safety measures as more contagious variants of the virus continue to spread.