With a decline in nationwide Covid-19 cases, Japan has slowly started to loosen its border control measures starting with shorter quarantine periods for business travellers. However, with the recent discovery of the new Covid-19 variant in South Africa, known as B.1.1.529 or ‘omicron’, Japan has now put in place tighter entry rules for people arriving from nine African countries.
As reported by The Japan Times, Japan now has stricter entry rules for travellers arriving from South Africa and eight surrounding countries. The countries affected by the new rules are: Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The new rules for travellers arriving from those countries include spending ten days in a government-designated quarantine facility upon arrival and Covid-19 tests on the third, sixth and tenth day of quarantine. According to Kyodo News, travellers from the listed countries will then need to spend an additional four days of self-isolation at home following the ten days at the government-designated facility.
The rule change came into effect on Saturday November 27 for Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. On Sunday November 28, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia were added to the list.
Japan is aiming to avoid a potential sixth wave of infections, as the omicron variant follows the highly contagious delta variant, which swept Japan into a fifth wave over the summer.
As of Tuesday November 30, Japan is barring all new arrivals from overseas. This means business travellers, foreign students and foreign interns from the countries above will not be allowed in to Japan. However, Japanese citizens and foreign residents of Japan travelling from those countries are still allowed to enter.
This story was first published on November 29 at 12.25pm and updated at 6pm.
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