Japan to halt new entry of foreign nationals over new virus strain

The Japanese government said Saturday it will ban new entries of all non-Japanese nationals from around the globe in principle from Dec. 28 through the end of January.

Japanese and non-Japanese nationals living in Japan making short-term business trips abroad will be permitted re-entry, media reports said.

The news came the same day Japan confirmed two more people to have been infected with the new, potentially more transmissible coronavirus variant spreading in Britain, following its first cases of the strain detected in five people the previous day.

The two, who are hospitalized in Tokyo, are a man in his 30s who returned to Japan from Britain on Dec. 16 and a woman in her 20s with no history of visiting the country, according to the health ministry. The woman is one of his family members, according to sources familiar with the matter.

On Friday, the government said the five people — four males and one female all aged under 70 — had been confirmed as infected with the new variant following their arrival from Britain.

Japan confirmed 3,877 coronavirus cases Saturday, a new record daily tally, as Tokyo and several other areas continued to report the highest numbers of infections as the year-end and New Year holidays commence across the country.

In Tokyo, the daily count reached 949, surpassing 900 for the first time, while daily infection record were set in Miyagi, Tochigi, Shiga and Kyoto prefectures.

The nationwide death toll linked to the virus also rose by 45 to 3,245. According to the health ministry, the number of COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms increased by 10 from the previous day to 654, also a record high.