In a decision made by the Japanese government’s National Security Council, Japan’s entry ban has now been expanded to include 11 more countries, namely Afghanistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, El Salvador, Ghana, Guinea, India, Kyrgyz, Pakistan, South Africa and Tajikistan.
Since the beginning of February, Japan has implemented a strict entry ban on countries who have high rates of cornavirus cases. The Philippines was added to the list in late March of this year. Aside from the Philippines, the following Asian countries have been banned from entering as well: Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. In total, Japan has implemented entry bans for 111 countries.
Taking effect on May 27, Wednesday, the revised travel advisory says that foreigners who arrive in Japan via connecting flights passing through the listed countries will be denied entry, regardless of whether they entered those countries or not. Aside from the entry ban, the government also advised Japan’s citizens to restrict travel to any of the listed countries.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also announced that visa suspensions and stricter border control measures will be implemented in order to decrease possible virus transmissions. For Japanese nationals arriving in the country, a 14-day quarantine period inside the government’s quarantine facilities will be mandatory. These measures will last until the end of June 2020.
According to the Japan Times, Japan’s tourism rates went down 99.9 percent in April of this year, with only 2,900 visitors. In an attempt to boost domestic tourism, the government has been looking into the possibility of covering the travel expenses of visitors. Hiroshi Tabata, chief of Japan’s Tourism Agency, said that the program could be rolled out in July of this year if the spread of the coronavirus has been controlled globally.
Erratum: This story originally claimed that the Philippines had just been added to Japan’s recent entry ban revision. We have since edited the article.
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