TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Tuesday that Japan would tighten border controls against COVID-19 and require negative tests for all visitors from China starting Friday as a temporary emergency measure due to the increase of coronavirus infections in that country.
The announcement comes days after the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was very concerned about growing reports of serious cases in China after the country largely abandoned its “zero-COVID” policy .
Quantitative antigen testing – which is performed in advance on people attempting to enter the country suspected by authorities of having COVID-19 – will be mandatory for all arrivals from mainland China. Those who test positive will be quarantined for seven days at facilities designated by Japanese authorities and their samples will be used for genome analysis. The measure will take effect on Friday, just as Japan prepares for the end of the year and New Year’s holidays and expects an increase in infections.
Kishida said China’s lack of information and transparency about infections makes it difficult to assess and determine safety measures. There are huge discrepancies between information from federal and municipal authorities and between government and private organizations, she said.
“Concern is growing in Japan,” Kishida stressed. “We have decided to take a temporary special measure to respond to the situation.”
Japan’s new measure aims to “prevent a rapid increase in infections in this country” and is not intended to curb the global mobility of people, Kishida reiterated. Japan will remain flexible as it observes developments in China, he added, including suspending the planned increase in flights between Japan and China “just to be safe”. Direct flights between the two countries will be limited to four major Japanese airports for now, authorities have announced.
