Japan to Ease COVID-19 Entry Restrictions in March - Prime Minister

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th February, 2022) Japan will ease COVID-19 border restrictions in March by reducing the quarantine period for those entering the country from seven to three days and increasing the daily limit on arrivals, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday, as cited by Japanese news agency Kyodo.

According to the newspaper, Tokyo will raise the entrance limit from 3,500 to 5,000 people per day. Foreign citizens, except for tourists, will again be allowed to visit the country within this daily cap.

Upon arrival, all travelers will be required to undergo a three-day quarantine and to take a COVID-19 test on the last day of the isolation.

Travelers who have been vaccinated three times and have come from countries with a stabilized epidemiological situation will be exempt from the mandatory quarantine, the news agency said.

"It is the first step in our gradual easing of the restrictions," Kishida said at a press conference, as quoted by Kyodo.

At the same time, the Japanese leader reportedly stressed the need to closely monitor the situation, given the danger of the Omicron strain could be supplanted by other coronavirus variants.

"We will continue to consider how the measures should be by taking into account the infection situations at home and abroad, border control measures taken by other nations, and progress in the rollout of vaccine boosters," the minister said, as quoted by Kyodo.

The decision to ease COVID-19 restrictions was made after the expert group consulting the Japanese authorities said on Wednesday that the latest wave of COVID-19 infections had reached its peak at the beginning of February.

In late November, Japan banned the issuance of new visas and suspended the validity of the already issued ones. Currently, only Japanese citizens and foreigners with a residence permit or a long-term visa can enter the country. All travelers are required to quarantine from 7 to 14 days. These measures will remain in effect until February 28.

The total number of registered COVID-19 cases in Japan for the entire period of the pandemic is estimated to be over 4.1 million with 20,954 deaths.