Japan to Relax its Covid Regulations for Visitors from China

According to a top government spokesman, Japan is reducing its coronavirus border restrictions for visitors from China starting on Wednesday by just testing random travelers.

Japan has been screening all visitors from mainland China at four selected airports since December due to the country’s rising infection rates and a lack of information. Chinese visitors must additionally provide documentation of a pre-boarding negative test.

At a press briefing, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno announced that starting on Wednesday, only random testing will be done on travelers from China.

According to Matsuno, the modification is meant to “encourage easy international travel” in light of the recent two months’ comparatively low infection rates among new arrivals. According to him, every sample examined at the border belonged to the Omicron strains, which are already present in Japan.

He added that documentation of a pre-boarding negative test would still be needed.
There will be more direct flights from China, which can presently only land at Narita, Haneda, Chubu, and Kansai.

China, which ended its “zero-Covid” policy in December, responded to Japan and South Korea’s tougher border controls by temporarily restricting short-term visas for citizens of the two nations. Since then, China has started providing visas for Japan.

At the beginning of January, South Korea hasn’t imposed any entrance restrictions on transient Chinese visitors because officials believed the pandemic in China was beginning to stabilize.

On March 13, Japan intends to largely lift its mask-wearing restrictions and give people more freedom. In May, Covid-19 will be downgraded to the level of seasonal influenza.