Japan will ban foreigners from entering after detection of the Covid-19 variant in the country

Japan will ban foreigners from entering after detection of the Covid-19 variant in the country

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Japanese citizens and foreign residents can still enter, but are expected to be quarantined for 14 days, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

The shift came after the Tokyo metropolitan government on Saturday confirmed two new cases of the Covid-19 variant involving people who recently returned from the UK.

The two new cases were the first to be discovered outside the country’s airport quarantine.

On Friday, five other British travelers were detected with the variant at Japanese international airports.

The new variant of the coronavirus would have originated in the United Kingdom and would potentially be more transmissible. Since its discovery, more than 40 countries have restricted travel from the UK and, in some cases, travel from other countries that documented cases with the variant.
Starting on Monday, for example, the U.S. will require all UK travelers to do a negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours of boarding a flight to the U.S. Passengers must also provide documentation of their laboratory results.

Restrictions of varying degrees have been announced by countries such as Denmark, Ecuador, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. Still others have banned travel or suspended flights from the UK, such as 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, such as Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia. Several countries have also imposed travel restrictions on South Africa, where a different variant has been reported, according to Maria van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization.

.Source