JAPAN has decided to impose tougher measures on athletes and officials coming in for the Tokyo Olympics from countries affected by the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said the measures include daily testing for a week during their isolation and further restrictions on contact with others for three days.
The move comes amid concerns that the games, which will start on July 23, could give rise to more infections in Japan.
The country had only recently eased some of its Covid-19 restrictions but authorities said the capital city Tokyo was already seeing infections rising again.
Kyodo News reports Kato saying that the government was in talks with the International Olympic Committee and the games organising committee to finalise the rules on the additional measures.
The government's top Covid-19 adviser, Shigeru Omi, and other infectious disease experts have warned that the Delta variant combined with an increase in movement during the Olympics and Paralympics could lead to a surge in infections and may even result in super spreaders.
The new measures also come after the discovery of positive cases among the Ugandan Olympic delegation.
Authorities are now revamping certain entry procedures and announced that travelers from Indonesia and Uganda will need to spend the first six days of their 14-day quarantine in state-designated facilities.
Those coming from certain areas of Russia will need to stay in designated facilities for three days while Vietnamese travelers will be required to stay for three days, down from six.
Germany will be removed from the list but travelers from there still need to be in a 14-day self-isolation.
The Olympics organising committee officials said the stricter Covid-19 guidelines were needed due to the Ugandan delegation case, where one person tested positive at the Narita airport but others in the delegation were allowed to travel by bus to Osaka.
However, another member of the delegation later also tested positive.
Kato said athletes and officials will now be isolated if they have been in close contact with positive cases and they will need to travel separately to their destinations.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has also voiced caution over the recent rise in cases in Tokyo, which reported 317 new infections on Monday, up from 236 a week ago.
"We must continue implementing anti-virus measures while remaining highly vigilant...if necessary, we will quickly take additional steps," he said.
Such steps could include declaring another state of emergency or extending restrictions on business activities currently in place under a quasi-emergency.
This may also impact the number of spectators allowed at Olympic and Paralympic venues.