CORONAVIRUS/Japan tightens border controls to include Taiwan

Tokyo, Jan. 13 (CNA) The Japanese government will tighten its border restrictions with effect from Thursday, temporarily banning the entry of visitors from all countries, including Taiwan, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced Wednesday.

A month-long state of emergency in Tokyo, which was imposed to tackle the COVID-19 situation, will be expanded to other parts of the country, and Japan will close its borders Jan. 14 to Feb. 7 to all non-residents, Suga said.

The new restrictions include visitors from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, and South Korea, he said.

Business travelers from these 11 countries and regions had been exempt from an entry ban imposed by Japan for the period Dec. 28 to Jan. 31.

With the worsening of the COVID-19 outbreak in Japan, however, and the recent discovery of new variants, tighter border controls have become necessary, Suga said.