TOKYO (Reuters)

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) expects between 70 to 80 per cent of the news media covering the Olympics in Tokyo this summer to be vaccinated, organisers said at the launch of the updated coronavirus guidelines for the Games on Tuesday (June 15).

They also said that every sports delegation arriving in Japan would have a COVID-19 liaison officer coordinating with the organisers of the measures to stop the spread of the virus at the event due to start on July 23.

Athletes and members of the media, whose movements will be restricted, will be subject to GPS monitoring for the first 14 days of their stay in Japan.

About 11,000 athletes and 78,000 journalists, officials and staff are expected at the Games, and many Japanese fear the influx could contribute to spreading the virus.

“Between 70 per cent and 80 per cent of broadcasters and accredited press will be vaccinated, according to the latest feedback received by the IOC,” said the organisers in a statement at the news conference in Tokyo announcing the guidelines.

An earlier version of the “playbook”, released in February and updated in April, banned singing and chanting during events and required athletes to wear masks at all times except when outdoors, sleeping or eating.

Athletes and close contacts will be tested every day, while all participants must have two negative tests before arrival, officials have said.

Visitors will not be allowed to use public transport for their first 14 days and must eat in specific locations with special hygiene measures.

The launch of the latest guidelines coincided with arrival in Japan of John Coates, a vice-president of the IOC who is its point-man for the event.

Coates sparked backlash last month when he said the Games – already postponed from last year due to the coronavirus – would go ahead even if Tokyo were under a state of emergency due to the pandemic.

Japan’s government is considering ending the state of emergency in Tokyo and several other prefectures as scheduled on June 20, but keeping some curbs such as on restaurant hours until the Olympics start in July, domestic media have said.

Economics Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, in charge of Japan’s COVID-19 response, said that with hospital occupancy and infection rates still high, it was too soon to talk as if lifting the state of emergency was a done deal.

“Now is a critical time to call on the public, to suppress infections and to take initiatives for a stable supply of hospital beds,” he said.

A decision on the prospective lifting or continuation of the state of emergency could come as early as Thursday (June 17), media reported.

Japan has not suffered the explosive COVID-19 outbreaks seen elsewhere, but has still recorded more than 772,000 cases and over 14,000 deaths.

A slow vaccination rollout, though recently accelerating, means only 13 per cent of the population has received at least one shot.

State Of Public Opinion On Hosting Of OlympicGames

A June 1-9 online survey of companies by think-tank Tokyo Shoko Research showed 64 per cent favoured cancelling or postponing the Games. Nearly 60 per cent said doing so would hurt their businesses and over 40 per cent expected a positive impact.

Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa told a news conference that Pfizer Inc would provide doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to an additional 20,000 people involved in the Olympics and Paralympics, doubling the amount previously promised by the United States pharmaceutical firm.

Some 80 per cent of qualified athletes have already been vaccinated and the IOC is pushing to raise the number.