Two major anti-doping agencies, the United Kingdom Anti-Doping Agency (UKAD) and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), have announced that they will reduce the number of anti-doping tests as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

On Tuesday, UKAD announced a "significant reduction" in testing, while USADA is focusing on "absolutely necessary" testing for "mission-critical" athletes who continue to compete and for athletes preparing for the Tokyo Olympics, which has yet to happen.

The global SARS-CoV-2 outbreak has reached 195,000 cases, 158 countries have confirmed the virus causing severe respiratory distress, and Covid-19 has been declared a pandemic in the last week.

"Due to the cancellation of sporting events and recent UK government advice regarding control of the virus, we are reviewing our operational activities and announcing a significant reduction in our testing program," UKAD announced Tuesday. [This is a difficult decision and one not made lightly. Our priorities are the health and welfare of our athletes and our own staff and Doping Control Officers (DCOs)"

.

"Our ongoing responsibility as an organization remains to protect clean sport, but at this unprecedented time we must prioritize health and welfare and act responsibly in line with government advice.

"We will continue to process the information and act on it; if anyone has any information that would be useful to UKAD and its investigations, please contact us as usual."

USADA's press release stated, "USADA is absolutely committed to the mission-critical testing of athletes in sports in which they are still competing and preparing for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games to ensure that their rights are protected and their reputations are protected. We will focus only on the inspections that are necessary."

"Our collection process has always been conducted with the utmost attention to safety protocols. To continue our commitment to athletes and Doping Control Officers (DCOs), we will enhance our collection process accordingly."

Both organizations still require athletes to submit their whereabouts. When testing takes place, DCOs are required to wear protective gear, maintain a six-foot distance from athletes, and both DCOs and athletes are required to wash their hands before and after doping control.

"During this period, USADA DCOs who show signs of illness or meet any of the risk criteria identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will not be sampled," USADA stated.

The World Anti-Doping Agency said this week that it continues to monitor any doping control gaps that may arise due to the pandemic and advises ADOs to adjust doping controls accordingly.

The Olympic Games are still on schedule, but the cancellation of a number of competitions has hampered the selection process.