Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday that Japan will stop mandating pre-arrival coronavirus tests for vaccinated travellers from September 7, 2022, a step that brings Japan’s border control policy closer to that of other major economies.
Japan will also raise the daily arrival caps from the current 20,000 once airports have the necessary staff and infrastructure to accommodate the spike in arrivals. Kishida did not offer a specific new daily arrival cap.
“From Sept. 7, we will allow travellers to submit proof of vaccination (vaccine passports) instead of negative test results taken within 72 hours of departure,” Kishida said during an online news conference. “It has been inconvenient for people, especially those traveling abroad from Japan.
“We will speed up measures both to prevent the spread of infections and promote socioeconomic activity,” he said.
Travellers who have received three doses of an approved coronavirus vaccine will be exempted from pre-arrival PCR tests. Travel agencies have been urging the government to drop pre-arrival tests, which comprise part of the strictest border controls among the Group of Seven wealthy nations.
Many other countries no longer require pre-arrival testing. The United States, for example, stopped asking foreign travellers to submit pre-arrival tests in June.
Daily arrivals, including Japanese nationals and foreign residents, are currently capped at 20,000. A relatively small number of foreign tourists have been able to enter the country since June, albeit only via guided tours. Earlier media reports said that Japan may allow independent tourists to enter the country but Kishida did not mention such a move on Wednesday.
In July, an online survey conducted by D2C X Inc., a tourism marketing firm, showed that 72 per cent of about 1,700 respondents said they will — or are likely to — give up visiting Japan if the current border controls remain in place.
During the news conference, Kishida also said he discussed coronavirus measures with related ministers and public health experts earlier in the day and decided, as an emergency measure, to simplify the paperwork for doctors in areas with large numbers of COVID-19 patients. Those doctors will now be asked to provide detailed information on only high-risk patients, Kishida said.
For people with mild symptoms, government-approved antigen tests will be made widely available over the counter by the end of this month. This, Kishida said, is so those less at-risk can buy the tests online or at general drug stores without needing to visit so-called fever clinics. Currently, government-approved antigen tests are sold only at certain pharmacies, resulting in many people with mild symptoms rushing to fever clinics or calling ambulances if a clinic turns them away.
If people self-test for COVID-19 and get a positive result, they will be asked to register their results at centers designed to follow up on test results. The government will make sure that these centers are set up nationwide, Kishida said. At present, 40 per cent of all new COVID-19 cases in Hokkaido — as well as 10 per cent to 20 per cent of new cases in Tokyo and Osaka — are being handled through follow-up centers, he added.
“In areas where fever clinics and public health centers are significantly strained, we will allow municipal governments to use their discretion and limit the (detailed) reporting of cases to the elderly, people requiring hospitalization and those with a risk of developing severe symptoms and requiring treatment,” Kishida said.
The government will continue to ask hospitals and clinics to report the number of new COVID-19 cases to public health centers, he said, noting that it is committed to making up to 50,000 beds available for COVID-19 patients nationwide.
Also Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry lowered its coronavirus travel advisories for 55 countries and areas — including Indonesia, the Philippines and Ukraine — from Level 2 to Level 1. A Level 1 advisory urges Japanese nationals traveling to those regions to “stay fully alert.”
For 41 countries including Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan, the advisory level was downgraded from Level 3, which warns against all travel, to Level 2, which urges people to avoid nonessential trips.
Travel advisories are issued for outbound travellers and are separate from the government’s categorisation of blue, yellow and red countries to determine whether travellers need to quarantine upon arrival.
Source: Japan Times
