Tokyo 31 August : Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday that the daily limit on the number of people who can enter Japan will be increased from 20,000 to 50,000 starting September 7.Kishida spoke at a press event that visitors coming to Japan will no longer have to join packages with guidebooks, as Japan is easing its border control despite the country is in the grip of the seventh wave of the Covid-19 pandemic according to Xinhua news agency.
“We have observed that international exchanges are gaining momentum in different parts of the globe.We will increase the daily limit on new arrivals to 50,000 on September 7 to follow the trend and ensure the positive effects of the strong yen can be felt” Kishida said.
The Japanese government has been steadily relaxing its border controls which for a long period were among the strictest of the G7 major developed nations.
The border controls that the government has imposed have drawn a lot of criticism from the tourism industry, overseas business lobbies, and educational institutions as well as other groups.
Japan has been seeking to bring its border procedures in the same way with other countries with major economies.
The latest relaxation comes following the government announced on August 24 , that those who are visiting Japan are exempt from taking tests for Covid-19 prior to departure if they’ve received three shots of vaccination.
The relaxed requirements for testing for viruses will also take effect on September 7, according to the government.
Kishida added that the release of an Omicron specific variant of the vaccine will be delayed from October with the government sources suggesting that that inoculations could begin in the latter part of September.
The nation, however, is still struggling with the seventh round of the pandemic and record cases since the highly infectious BA.5 Omicron subvariant of the virus continues to spread across the country.
Despite the high incidence rate the government hasn’t declared an Covid condition of emergency and hasn’t put in place any restrictions on the use of anti-virus software like they did when the number of infections had increased.
Kishida himself was tested positive for Covid on the 21st of August and has since been working at his official residence and attending online meetings.
Recovering from the virus After a period of recovery, the Japanese leader returned to his duties as a leader in his own person on Wednesday.
