Japan will ban entry to foreign nationals after Covid-19 variant detected in country
Japanese citizens and foreign residents can still enter, but they’re required to self-quarantine for 14 days, according to Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK.
The move came after the Tokyo metropolitan government on Saturday confirmed two new cases of Covid-19 variant involving people who recently returned from the UK.
The two new cases were the first to be discovered outside of airport quarantine in the country.
On Friday, five other travelers from Britain were detected with the variant at Japan’s international airports.
Restrictions of varying degrees have been announced by countries like Denmark, Ecuador, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. Still others have banned travel or suspended flights from the UK, like Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia and Spain.
Others have extended travel bans or restrictions to other countries where the variant has been detected, like Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia. A number of countries have also imposed restrictions on travel from South Africa, where a different variant has been reported, according to the World Health Organization’s Maria van Kerkhove.
