Border restrictions in Japan extended until the end of February and new limits on daily admissions.
This was decided by the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the end of the Council of Ministers, extending the ban in force since 30 November last, the date on which the first case of the variant was reported in the country to foreign citizens who do not have a residence permit. Omicron of Covid-19.
The measure had been decided for a duration of about a month in early December and provided for the imposition of a quarantine period in government structures, up to 10 days of isolation in hotels, based on the countries of origin. A daily ceiling of 3,500 people has been set up for daily arrivals.
The Tokyo government had also denied entry to citizens who had traveled to 11 countries in the previous two weeks, including South Africa, but then decided to ease the restrictions on the basis of "solidarity and humanitarian considerations".
Currently "near emergency" measures have been announced in three prefectures in Japan, Hiroshima, Okinawa and Yamaguchi, due to the surge in infections also triggered by the outbreaks of the virus present in US military bases.
(Unioneonline / vl)
