Japan’s government has taken another set of measures to ‘protect people’ from the new variant of the COVID-19 virus. The ban will be working until the end of January, NHK News reported.
Japan’s prime minister Suga Yoshihide on Monday has approved a precaution against a new variant of the coronavirus. The country suspended new entries of non-resident foreign nationals from “most of the world”.
As of today, Japan health authorities have already reported eight cases of the new strain of the COVID-19 infection which was first reported in the UK. Last week, at least 20 nations have reported the new virus strain.
However, Japan doesn’t apply new rules to those ten Asian nations with which Tokyo has agreed to a special scheme to ease travel restrictions. China and South Korea are among those countries.
According to the doctors, the new variant of the disease spreads 70% faster than the earlier one.
Commenting on the stricter rules, PM Suga urged people to spend a quiet New Year’s holiday. The top official asked people to be sure to do such things as wash their hands and wear face masks.
Under new conditions, Japanese citizens and foreigners with Japanese resident permits returning from the countries where the new variant has been detected are asked to submit a negative virus test result within 72 hours of departure and also undergo a test upon arrival as of Wednesday through the end of January.
Japan is witnessing record spike in new infections with 3,881 more COVID-19 cases reported on Saturday.
The country has so far reported a total of 223,000 cases, including 3,213 deaths due to the COVID-19.
