The British Olympic Association has partnered with Randox Health over COVID-19 tests for two years ©Getty Images

The British Olympic Association (BOA) and Randox Health have signed a two-year partnership which will see the company provide COVID-19 testing for Team GB around the Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 Olympic Games.

Randox Health is described as the United Kingdom's largest provider of COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.

The company has created a dashboard for the BOA to register its samples, which will be taken by the Team GB clinical team and then transported to Randox Health's laboratory in Northern Ireland.

Ahead of departure for Tokyo 2020, Randox will test more than 1,000 Olympians, coaches and support staff in line with Japan's testing requirements.

It will provide each member of the BOA delegation with three rounds of pre-departure tests at 14 days, 96 hours and 72 hours before departure - and on days two, five and eight once they return to the UK.

"This is a fantastic and vital partnership for Team GB ahead of Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022," said BOA chief executive Andy Anson.

"We have committed to our hosts in Japan and the International Olympic Committee to ensure that our delegation is fully vaccinated and are also ensuring we have enhanced COVID testing in place.

"Randox's pedigree in this area gives us great confidence that we are providing athletes with the best possible medical support around COVID testing and that they get to the start line safely ready to compete successfully for the biggest moment of their sporting careers."

The UK was one of the hardest-hit nations early in the COVID-19 pandemic and has recorded more than 4.58 million cases of COVID-19, resulting in the deaths of more than 127,000 people.

More than 45 per cent of the UK population has now been fully vaccinated against the virus, although there are concerns over the rate of infection with the Delta variant at present.