As Japanese scepticism grows, organisers say they could hold Olympics without spectators

FILE PHOTO: International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach (on a screen) delivers an opening speech while Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee president Seiko Hashimoto listens, at a five-party meeting of Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games with International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Andrew Parsons, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike and Japanese Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa in Tokyo, Japan March 20, 2021. Yoshikazu Tsuno/Pool via REUTERS

TOKYO (Reuters) -Organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics rolled out stricter coronavirus countermeasures on Wednesday, including a plan to test athletes daily, as they try to reassure a Japanese public made increasingly sceptical by the resurgent pandemic.

With just three months to go until the postponed Games, Japan has been encumbered by a slow-moving vaccination drive that has raised concerns about the viability of the Games. Some public ire has focused on Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who has repeatedly pledged that event will go ahead.