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Airline passengers arriving from London are heading to a new coronavirus testing station at Haneda Airport on Thursday. Photo for The Yomiuri Shimbun
TOKYO – The government is strengthening its border containment policies after several people in Japan were found to be infected with a variant of the new coronavirus that is spreading in Britain and elsewhere.
After five people who tested positive in airport quarantine inspections, the new variant was confirmed Saturday in a male pilot who had returned home from the airport and in a female member of the family.
The government has been testing Japanese and foreign nationals arriving from more than 150 countries and regions at airport quarantine stations.
In principle, even those who test negative are asked to isolate themselves for two weeks.
In response to the new variant, the government announced stricter quarantine measures for returnees from Great Britain and South Africa. They will be asked to remain in the accommodation facility even if they test negative at the airport and will be retested three days later.
The pilots were exempted from airport testing and self-isolation to avoid operational disruptions.
Under these circumstances, some infections were invariably missed.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism asked airlines to test pilots and crew on flights arriving from London starting Friday.
However, as the variant is found in countries other than Great Britain and South Africa, there are limits to what can be done with border containment measures.
While people entering from Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia, all countries where the variant has been detected, are tested even if they do not show symptoms, unlike arrivals from Great Britain and South Africa, who they give negative they are not asked to stay in the accommodation. facilities to be retested.
The new variant is said to be highly contagious, although many infected people have little or no symptoms.
“There is concern that the variant that did not stop at the border will accelerate the spread of infections nationwide,” said a senior official from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Edge loosening stopped
The government’s suspension of new entries of foreigners from around the world is aimed at limiting the influx of the highly contagious new variant as much as possible.
Relaxation of travel restrictions in order to support the recovery of a sluggish economy has been temporarily halted, and the government has prioritized controlling the pandemic.
The government had gradually relaxed its travel restrictions, for example, by allowing foreign workers and international students to enter the country under certain conditions and exempting Japanese travelers from quarantine upon return to encourage business travel abroad.
However, unable to stop the spread of infections nationwide, the government decided that “this is not a situation where we can gain public understanding, so a suspension for the time being was inevitable,” said one senior government official.
However, business trips between countries such as China and South Korea will continue.
For more news on the new coronavirus, click here.
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