Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic staff and workers, including those from overseas, will be required to regularly self-collect saliva samples for COVID-19 testing, officials familiar with the games' planning said Thursday.

Instead of setting up special facilities to collect the samples, organizers plan to distribute containers for submission at one of around 60 locations, including hotels and venues, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The organizing committee of this summer's games estimates that the number of overseas officials and workers can be reduced to 78,000, less than half the initial figure, as a measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.