Japan is slamming the door shut on foreign travellers for one month, effective today.
It will ban all incoming foreign travellers as an ’emergency measure to avoid a worst-case scenario,’ Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.
Only Japanese nationals and foreign residents can return to the country.
"Research is needed to determine how contagious the Omicron variant is globally, and whether vaccines are still effective in preventing transmission," the PM said.
"It’s crucial that we respond to the situation quickly and flexibly."
Japan had already imposed curbs on travel from nine African countries at the weekend.
Returning Japanese nationals will have to spend 10 days at a government-quarantine facility and four more days isolating at home, if returning from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and Angola.
