The organizing body of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics said Monday it is trying to secure 500 nurses to provide medical care during this summer's global sporting event.

Securing enough doctors and nurses for the Tokyo Games is a major challenge for the organizing committee as Japan's medical system has been under strain amid a resurgence of coronavirus infections.

The request has been made to the Japan Nursing Association. The organizing committee's CEO Toshiro Muto said at a press conference that for it to secure that number of nurses "the basic premise is not to cause a negative impact on local medical systems."

With less than three months to go until the opening ceremony of the Olympics, Japanese authorities are still struggling to stem the number of COVID-19 infections.

The resurgence, driven by the spread of more contagious variants of the virus, has forced Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to declare a third state of emergency from Sunday to May 11 in Tokyo and the western Japan prefectures of Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo.