With the emergence of the new omicron Covid-19 variant, Japan has effectively closed its borders to all new foreign arrivals and is now banning the re-entry of foreign residents coming from ten countries in Africa. Earlier this week, Japan tightened its quarantine measures for arrivals from nine African countries, later adding Angola to the list to make ten. The Japan Times reports Japan will fully suspend the re-entry of temporary or permanent residents coming from those areas. The new rule goes into effect starting Thursday December 2.
As listed by Mofa (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan), the ten countries affected by the border closure are: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In addition to the foreign resident ban, more countries have been added to the list of destinations required to undergo quarantine at a designated government facility. Arrivals from Sweden, Spain, Nigeria and Portugal must now quarantine for a total of three days in a designated facility, followed by 11 days at home or a place of their choosing.
For the full list of countries and their designated lengths of quarantine, visit here.
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