Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and its 12 professional baseball teams held a teleconference Monday and agreed to conduct PCR tests on their manager, coaches and players to check for infection of the new coronavirus before the opening of the season on June 19.
It was also confirmed that the NPB would conduct monthly tests amid the season and adopt a method in which samples can be easily collected using saliva. Umpires are to be tested too.
NPB Commissioner Atsushi Saito said in the online press conference, "At the beginning, it was thought difficult to conduct PCR tests on all players, but now we are ready for the opening of the season."
Prior to the teleconference, the NPB and soccer J.League held their ninth joint committee meeting -- led by Mitsuo Kaku, a specially appointed professor at Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University -- and proposed an outline for the inspection system.
It suggested that the preliminary test before the opening of the season should be mandate. It also concluded regular tests should be necessary after the opening, and an emergency response inspection for suspected people who develop symptoms.
If a player with a positive result or close contact is found, an ad hoc committee will hold a meeting to discuss whether games are held. The NPB will work out measures to be taken in the event of an asymptomatic player who tests positive.
In the case of professional baseball, the Yomiuri Giants have already taken PCR tests of 96 players and coaches, all of them negative. Infielder Hayato Sakamoto, 31, and catcher Takumi Oshiro, 27, tested positive once, but also tested negative in a consecutive test.
The J.League has already decided to conduct PCR tests on players from all 56 clubs of the three tiers before the league reopens, and a regular test every two weeks amid season.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
