Japan is considering vaccinating about 70,000 volunteers for this summer's Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to improve the safety of the games amid the coronavirus pandemic, Olympic minister Tamayo Marukawa said Tuesday.

Marukawa said in response to parliamentary questioning that officials have already agreed to pursue the idea of vaccinating all volunteers who registered through the Tokyo Games organizing committee to assist at venues and the athletes' village.

She disclosed the plan at a time when Japan still lags behind other developed countries in providing inoculations, and the large majority of people in the country have yet to be vaccinated with less than 50 days until the opening of the Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee has said that U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. will provide vaccines for free to delegations participating in the Tokyo Games.

Japan plans to receive Pfizer vaccines for about 20,000 people, including support workers and officials expected to come into close contact with athletes. The vaccinations for Japanese athletes started on June 1.

Meanwhile, Seiko Hashimoto, president of the organizing committee, said that members of the media from abroad covering the games will be closely monitored.

"To make sure they do not go to places other than those pre-registered, we will use the global positioning system and other means to strictly control their activities," Hashimoto said at a meeting of the organizing body's executive board.

Members of the press entering Japan from foreign countries will be required to complete their 14-day quarantine period ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics.

Hashimoto said their accommodations will also be limited to those that the organizing committee will oversee, bringing down the number of hotels where they can stay to about 150 from roughly 350 planned initially.

She said it will not allow them to use private lodging or stay at friends' houses.

==Kyodo

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