Coronavirus: Japan to relax strict border controls; Thai couples urged to mask up for Valentine’s Day sex
- Japan’s government will start accepting more than 1,000 foreign workers and students a day this month
- Elsewhere, anti-vaccine rallies picked up in numbers in New Zealand and Australia, with protesters blocking roads and disrupting public events
The government will start accepting more than 1,000 people a day this month and will gradually raise the cap to several thousand.
“We will take into account accumulated scientific knowledge on the Omicron variant, changes in infection conditions inside and outside Japan, and other countries’ border control measures,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters in Tokyo.
Kishida’s remarks followed criticism of the entry ban from many academic and business leaders. The measure has prevented international students from entering Japan, prompting some to consider alternatives such as South Korea.
The business community, which is facing a chronic labour shortage, has asked for the ban to be lifted.
The controls, put in place in late November as the Omicron variant started to spread, are by far the strictest among the Group of Seven nations.