Coronavirus: Japan looks to ease restrictions even as citizens support border controls
- About 57 per cent of respondents to a survey said Japan’s ban on new entry by foreigners should continue, while 32 per cent said it should be loosened
- Elsewhere, Australia’s burnt out nurses strike, while South Korea reports its highest number of Covid-linked deaths in a month
Business groups are calling for an easing of the measures – set to continue until the end of February – which they say are hampering economic activity.
Kishida has said imposing the strict border restrictions helped delay the spread of the Omicron variant in Japan, allowing more time to understand its effects.
Polls showed his move was initially backed by almost 90 per cent of the public, an important consideration for the premier ahead of an upper house election set for July.
Omicron has nonetheless spread rapidly in Japan in recent weeks, triggering the worst infection and death rates since the pandemic began. It has weighed on support for Kishida’s cabinet, which fell to 54 per cent from 57 per cent the previous month in the NHK poll.
Japan’s death toll from the virus of about 20,500 is by far the lowest among the Group of Seven nations, with the tally at more than 922,000 in the US