Foreign entry, Go To Travel suspensions begin

The government is hoping to prevent the spread of infections with a new variant of the novel coronavirus from overseas by putting the entry ban into force through the end of January.

Furthermore, the government is asking people to refrain from travel during the year-end and New Year holidays by temporarily halting the tourism promotion campaign through Jan. 11.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga emphasized that the entry ban was an action he had taken at an early stage.

"I gave instructions on the policy on Saturday in order to deal with the situation ahead of time," he said on Monday morning, responding to questions from reporters at the Prime Minister's Office. "I would like to ask the public to take thorough measures against infection such as washing their hands and wearing masks. I hope they have quiet year-end and New Year holidays."

The government had allowed foreign students and expatriates to enter since October on an exceptional basis. After the spread of the new variant, the government had suspended entries from Britain and South Africa, and on Monday it extended the suspension to all countries.

Business personnel traffic with 11 countries and regions, including China and South Korea, will continue in accordance with bilateral agreements. However, if the variant of the virus spreads, the government will consider suspending it.

On the other hand, the return of Japanese nationals from overseas and the reentry of foreign nationals with resident status will continue to be permitted. But travelers returning or reentering Japan from a short-term business trip are again being required to quarantine at home or elsewhere for 14 days.

Domestic flight bookings

Due to the surge in domestic infection numbers, the Go To Travel campaign has been suspended for the first time since it started in July.

The suspension is scheduled to last for 15 days, until Jan. 11, but may be extended depending on the future infection situation.

There were few passengers returning to their hometowns or going on trips at the domestic terminal of Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Monday morning, despite the year-end holiday season. The electronic board was lined with announcements of flight cancellations.

The number of bookings for domestic flights from Dec. 25 to Jan. 3 fell sharply to 801,113 for All Nippon Airways, down 42.4% from the previous year, and 511,965 for Japan Airlines Group, down 51.5%, it was announced on Dec. 18.

There was no noticeable congestion on the Shinkansen bullet trains departing from Tokyo. As of 10 a.m. Monday, the occupancy rate of unreserved seats on the Tohoku, Yamagata, Joetsu and Hokuriku Shinkansen lines was between 10-30%, while that of the Tokaido Shinkansen was up to 30%.

The government will discuss what to do with the travel campaign after Jan. 12 at a meeting of the subcommittee on coronavirus countermeasures, which it plans to hold on or after Jan. 4. Depending on the infection situation, the suspension may be continued or only partially lifted.

Special measures law

In addition, the ruling and opposition parties will enact amendments to the special measures law for pandemic influenza prior to the enactment of the fiscal budget in the Diet session to be convened in January.

Hiroshi Moriyama, chairperson of the Liberal Democratic Party Diet Affairs Committee, and Jun Azumi, his counterpart in the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, talked in the Diet Building and agreed on doing so Monday morning.

In order to strengthen measures against the novel coronavirus, the government is considering including in the proposed amendment specified support measures for stores and other businesses that close or shorten their hours in response to requests, as well as penalties for those that do not.