Privately run coronavirus testing centers at Tokyo's Haneda airport for boarding passengers opened to the media on Thursday ahead of their official opening two days later.
The rapid testing facilities will conduct antigen tests, which provide results in roughly 15 minutes, for 1,800 yen ($16), while also offering polymerase chain reaction tests, which take longer than antigen tests, for 1,900 yen but only for those not departing the same day.
The centers will be set up at Haneda's Terminal 1 and 2 for domestic flights from Saturday, at a time when passenger numbers remain low as Japan has recently seen a resurgence in COVID-19, a respiratory illness caused by the virus, and will have a combined capacity to administer 2,100 antigen tests and 1,500 PCR tests per day.
An official of Kinoshita Group Co., which manages the testing centers together with airport operator Japan Airport Terminal Co, said the services will give traveling passengers peace of mind and also benefit passengers who have to go on urgent business trips.
