Over the last month, the number of Covid-19 coronavirus cases have been creeping up in Tokyo – and Japan as a whole – causing Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike to urge residents to only go outside for essential reasons during July’s long holiday weekend. To curb the virus from spreading throughout the country, Tokyo was also excluded from the Go to Travel campaign, which provides up to 50 percent discounts on domestic travels.
In addition, the national government has extended its entry ban to 17 more countries and regions to avoid a future wave of infections from abroad, bringing the no-entry total to 146 countries and regions. The latest list includes Nepal, Palestine, Uzbekistan, three countries in South America and eleven regions in Africa. Non-Japanese citizens who have visited any of the places on the entry-ban list in the last 14 days will be denied entry into Japan. Here’s the full no-entry list as of July 24; the newest additions are indicated in italics.
Asia Pacific: Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Brunei, China (including Hong Kong and Macau), India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Vietnam.
North America: Canada, United States of America.
Latin America and the Caribbean: Argentina, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, the Grenadines, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela.
Europe: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vatican City.
Middle East: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates.
Africa: Algeria, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central Africa, Cote d’lvoire, the Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, the Republic of the Congo, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan.
However, there is still hope for future travel. Coronavirus testing centres at major international airports as well as in Tokyo and Osaka city centres are planned to open as early as September. In the meantime, the national government is looking to ease restrictions for ten Asian countries and regions, including China, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore.
For more information, see the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.
Keep up to date with the coronavirus situation in Tokyo and Japan here.
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