Following the fact that mutated new coronaviruses have been confirmed one after another outside the United Kingdom, the Japanese government plans to further strengthen border measures from the 26th.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, South Africa, where a mutated new coronavirus was found, refused new entry after midnight on the 26th of Japan time, except for Japanese and foreign nationals with a status of residence. I will.
▽ Requesting Japanese people and persons with a status of residence to wait for 14 days, which had been exempted so far, ▽ Japanese people, like those with a status of residence, should be inspected 72 hours before leaving the country. It means that you will be asked to receive and submit a certificate.
In addition, immigrants from the United Kingdom and South Africa will be asked to wait at the accommodation designated by the quarantine station and will be inspected again on the third day from the day after entry.
Even if the test is negative, we will ask you to wait for 14 days from the day after you enter Japan.
At the same time, for flights arriving from the United Kingdom, in principle, we will stop accepting new reservations for a week, and we are requesting each airline to reduce the number of passengers after that.
Also, regarding Australia where a similarly mutated virus was found, those who stayed in the field 14 days before entering the country will be newly inspected at the quarantine station at the airport.
Mutant virus All from England
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases conducts genetic analysis of samples of people confirmed to be infected at airport quarantine stations, regardless of the country or region of departure.
As a result of analyzing the gene of the sample of 68 people who arrived from December 12 to 21 and confirmed to be infected, a mutated virus was found in 5 people, and all of them arrived from the United Kingdom.
Takaji Wakita, director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, said at a meeting on the night of the 25th, "Since it was confirmed by airport quarantine, I think that it is not a true invasion into the country and the spread of the epidemic. Since there are times when we do not know the pathogenicity, we need to analyze it thoroughly. "He said that he would collect a wide range of samples from private testing companies for people who were confirmed to be infected outside of the quarantine, and proceeded with the analysis.