TOKYO – Japan ended its Covid-19 border controls for all people arriving in the country on Saturday, with an influx of travellers expected during the Golden Week of holidays.
Visitors to Japan were previously required to present certification proving they have had at least three doses of a Covid-19 vaccine or evidence of a negative polymerase chain reaction test taken within 72 hours of their departure.
But Japan’s top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, told a news conference on Friday that these prerequisites to enter the country will no longer be required for people arriving from Saturday onwards.
Japan also halted measures specifically targeting visitors from China. Passengers on direct flights from China to Japan were previously subject to random testing on their arrival, a measure that Japan put in place after coronavirus cases surged in China early this year.
Japan initially aimed to fully lift its border protocols on May 8, the same day it is downgrading the legal status of Covid-19 to that of seasonal influenza.
Mr Matsuno said the decision to end the border requirements earlier is to cater to numerous travellers who will travel overseas during the Golden Week period starting this weekend, as well as to ease congestion at airports at the start of the holiday.
If there is a spike in Covid-19 infections, under the lowered categorisation, a state of emergency will not be declared.
“Special measures that the government has been taking in response to the novel coronavirus will end on May 7,” Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Katsunobu Kato told a press conference on Thursday.
Mr Kato also said that while efforts have been made towards the resumption of normal social and economic activities, Covid-19 has not disappeared and, as a result, medical institutions, along with facilities for the elderly, will be asked to take necessary measures.
Under the auspices of the Health Ministry’s advisory panel, a group of experts warned earlier in April, however, that a ninth wave of infections could hit Japan.
People entering the country with symptoms, including fever and coughing, will still be tested for Covid-19, the government said. XINHUA
