News
Japan bans foreigner arrivals
November 30th 2021
Japan’s Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, said yesterday all foreign arrivals would be banned from entering the country in response to the new Omicron variant of COVID-19. Read More » The decision, in effect from today, followed the recent announcement of tightening restrictions on travellers from South Africa and eight other countries. Prime Minister Kishida told reporters the ban was a temporary, exceptional measure for the safety of the country until there was clearer information about the Omicron variant. Japanese nationals returning to the country will have to quarantine on arrival.
Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific, India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has introduced new rules for travellers entering the country. Passengers arriving from at-risk locations must undergo a RT-PCR test for COVID-19 on arrival and wait for their test results at the airport before being allowed to leave or board a connecting flight. Individuals testing negative must complete home quarantine for seven days and be re-tested on their eighth day of arrival in India. Those who test positive will be taken to a separate isolation facility. The ministry said at-risk locations were Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, China, countries in Europe, the UK, Hong Kong, Israel, Mauritius, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and Zimbabwe. For passengers flying in from non-at-risk locations, the Ministry said a random sample of 5% of travellers will be RT-PCR tested on arrival.
India's Home Ministry said the proposed December 15 resumption of scheduled commercial international flights will be reviewed given the evolving global scenario.
Separately, Indonesia has banned travellers who have been in seven southern African nations -Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe - in the previous 14 days.
