JAPAN has decided to relax its Covid-19 border controls in March by raising the daily cap on entries and reducing the quarantine period from seven days to three, for both Japanese and foreign nationals.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said it was the first step in the country’s gradual easing of restrictions that was imposed to control the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
According to a Kyodo News report, he said Japan’s border control measures will remain the strictest among the Group of Seven (G-7) countries and that it was unrealistic to relax the measures all at once.
Japan imposed the entry ban on non-resident foreigners on Nov 30 and it will last until the end of this month.
However, it drew a barrage of criticisms for being too strict and not based on science.
Under the eased rules, Japan will raise the daily limit on new entrants to 5,000 from the current 3,500.
Foreign nationals will also be able to enter the country for purposes other than tourism.
Upon arrival, they need to be quarantined for three days and must be tested on the final day.
Those who have been vaccinated three times and depart from countries where infections are stabilising, will not need to be quarantined.
The latest changes also come ahead of the start of the new school and business year in April.
Kishida said the government will continue to look at the measures 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 in Japan.
The move also comes after the head of an expert panel advising the health ministry said Covid-19 cases were likely to have peaked in early February.
Many of the country’s 47 prefectures, including Tokyo, are now in a quasi-state of emergency until early March as authorities want to ensure infection numbers keep coming down.
Japan also decided to extend the quasi-emergency measures until March 6 in 17 other prefectures including Osaka, Kyoto and Fukuoka.
This means that 31 of Japan’s 47 prefectures, including Tokyo, would remain under the quasi-state of emergency until March 6 and it allows their governors to request that restaurants and bars close early and stop serving alcohol.
The announcement came as the country reported 95,208 new infections on Thursday and the daily death toll hit a record high of 271.
Since the restrictions were imposed in November, students, businessmen, academics and even lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party have been constantly calling for it to be eased.
Since then, only a small number of non-resident foreigners received exemptions to enter the country.
According to Japan’s immigration data, around 30,000 foreign nationals and 40,000 Japanese arrived in Japan in January.
The Kyodo report said that business circles in the country have blamed the measures for inflicting economic costs that far outweigh the benefits and it was also pointed out that the World Health Organisation has recommended that nations ease or lift travel restrictions.
It said that despite the easing of the restrictions, Japan will remain a difficult country to enter for non-Japanese travelers among the G-7 nations.
Other G-7 countries such as Britain and France have allowed the entry of foreigners who can prove they have been fully vaccinated, while those who are not vaccinated, need to test negative for Covid-19.
The United States requires foreign air travelers to show both proof of vaccination status and a negative test result before being allowed entry.
Source: New Straits Times
