A mandatory coronavirus test awaits everyone who comes to Japan from mainland China, the prime minister of the island nation announced on Tuesday, justifying the decision with the worsening epidemic situation in China.
Kisida Fumio said that according to the rule that will come into force on December 30, those who have tested positive must go into quarantine for seven days.
In October, Japan reopened its borders, which were closed in 2020 due to the epidemic: arrivals were asked for vaccination papers or a negative virus test carried out immediately before departure.
Tokyo already allowed the return of foreign tourists in June, but then only as part of organized trips.
The number of registered cases in Japan continues to rise. The island nation is currently struggling with the eighth wave of the epidemic, and on Friday the daily death record was broken: 371 people died from the disease caused by the virus.
Covid is exploding in China, there may already be 250 million infected
According to non-public estimates by the Chinese authorities, 250 million people – 18 percent of the entire Chinese population – may have been infected with the coronavirus in the first twenty days of December, after Beijing eased previous draconian anti-epidemic restrictions, the Financial Times wrote on Saturday.
According to the sources of the London business daily, the estimate was made by the deputy director of the Chinese Epidemic Prevention Center, Xun Yang, during a briefing held behind closed doors this week.
Two officials familiar with the contents of the confidential briefing told the Financial Times: Sun Yang stated at the meeting that more than half of the population of Beijing and Sichuan Province had been infected with the coronavirus, and the number of infected people was still rising.
The British newspaper highlights that according to the officially published data of the Chinese National Public Health Commission, only 62,592 coronavirus infections occurred in the first three weeks of December.
In Beijing and other major Chinese cities, the wave of coronavirus infections has “flooded” hospitals, and there are few free beds in emergency and intensive care units, according to a report by the Financial Times on Saturday.
In early December, shortly after the demonstrations against the strict regulations, the epidemiological restrictions imposed to curb the coronavirus epidemic were eased. Restaurants, shopping centers, and schools were allowed to open again in several cities, and mass testing, which had been mandatory until then, was abandoned in many areas.
MTI/Reuters
