Japan officials urge caution amid busy New Year travel season

TOKYO • Japan is bracing itself for a feared rebound in Covid-19 cases as highways and airports filled with travellers at the start of the New Year holidays yesterday.

The governors of the metropolises of Tokyo and Osaka urged residents to keep end-of-year gatherings small, as more cases of the Omicron variant come to light.

Health officials advised travellers to go for free tests before departure, amid fears that city dwellers could spread infections to the rural areas.

"The highest risk is meeting people without taking adequate measures to prevent infection," said Dr Norio Ohmagari, director of the Disease Control and Prevention Centre and a top health adviser to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. "Also, due to the reports of relatively mild infections caused by the Omicron strain, people are underestimating the risks."

The New Year holidays mark one of the busiest travel seasons in Japan. Footage from public broadcaster NHK showed Tokyo's main airports were packed, while public highway data showed a 39km traffic jam heading south-west of the capital.

Officials in Osaka confirmed five Omicron cases at a nursing home, believed to be the first cluster of the variant in Japan, Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday.

Community transmission of Omicron has been found in eight prefectures so far, according to a Jiji news agency tally. The variant may account for 90 per cent of Covid-19 cases in Osaka by early next month, according to a projection released on Tuesday by Kyoto University professor Hiroshi Nishiura.

Concerns that Omicron may be more infectious and evade vaccine protections have prompted Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to accelerate Japan's booster shot programme and maintain some of the world's strictest border restrictions.

REUTERS