Mar 01 (Nikkei) - Japan eased COVID-19 border controls on Tuesday, setting its limit on new entrants at 5,000 per day, up from the previous 3,500, and reducing or exempting quarantine periods for both Japanese and foreign nationals.
Within the daily cap, which was relaxed for the first time in three months, foreign nationals will be able to enter Japan for purposes other than tourism.
But more than 400,000 people already eligible for visas have been unable to enter the country as of Jan. 4, according to the Immigration Services Agency of Japan, and calls for further easing of the controls remain strong among business and academic communities at home and abroad.
Japan's entry ban on nonresident foreigners effective from late November to the end of February, initially aimed at keeping the Omicron variant of the coronavirus at bay, has sparked a chorus of criticism for being too strict and not based on epidemiological reasoning.
After arriving in Japan, travelers will now be asked to quarantine for three days and required to test negative for the virus on the last day of that period.
Those who have been vaccinated three times and depart from countries where infections are stabilizing will not need to quarantine.
Source: ANNnewsCH
