Photo taken on June 12, 2020, shows the Olympic rings and a part of the new National Stadium, the main venue for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, in Tokyo, Japan. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi)

Organizers of the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games plan to test all foreign athletes for COVID-19 when they arrive in Japan next year.

The Games were postponed to July-August 2021 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year.

China Daily reports that the athletes that will be scheduled to participate in the Games will be required to test for COVID-19 within 72 hours before their departures to Japan, but will also be tested for the virus upon arrival.

The new measures were released after a joint meeting by Tokyo 2020, the Japanese government and the Tokyo metropolitan government.

The regulations will also require anyone who will come into physical contact with the participants to take tests.

The athletes have also been advised not to take public transport during their stay in Tokyo and avoid contact with local citizens.

Toshiro Muto, the CEO of the Tokyo 2020, acknowledged that it will be difficult to ban athletes from shopping or sightseeing in Japan, but he urged them to remain responsible.

"By contacting the public, the athletes might spread COVID-19," China Daily quotes him. "That is the possibility. We must protect the citizens. So there are two aspects... It should be difficult. It is not realistic for us to consider not using public transportation by athletes."

Muto said that they have not reached any conclusion on any of the countermeasures and will "continue the discussion."