Asia today: Japan suspends all foreign arrivals due to UK coronavirus variant

TOKYO >> Japan is preventing all non-resident foreigners from entering as a precaution against a potentially more contagious variant of the coronavirus that has spread across Britain.

Itamaraty says that the entry ban will start on Monday and will last until January 31.

Last week, Japan banned non-resident foreigners from Britain and South Africa after confirming the new variant on seven people in the past two days – five from Britain with a positive test at airports and two others in Tokyo.

Japan is also lifting the 14-day quarantine exemption for Japanese citizens and foreigners residing in a short-term program that began in November. Participants must now carry proof of a negative test 72 hours before departure to Japan and isolate themselves for two weeks after arrival.

Japan has been fighting the increase in cases since November. He confirmed a total of 217,312 cases, including 3,213 deaths, an increase of 3,700 over the previous 24-hour period. Tokyo alone reported 949 cases, setting a new record, despite calls from experts and government officials for people to spend a “peaceful” vacation season.

OTHER PLACES IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION:

– Thai health officials say two new groups of coronavirus cases appear to be linked to a major outbreak discovered a week earlier among migrant workers in an industrial province near Bangkok. The new cases were found in 19 members of a motorcycling club who organized a holiday meeting on Lanta Island, in the southern province of Krabi, and in nine others who visited a gambling house in eastern Rayong province. They are part of 110 cases reported on Saturday, bringing Thailand’s total to 6,020. Sixty of the new cases are related to migrant workers. The government warned that, unless social distance and other restrictions are observed, a national blockade may have to be implemented by March.