Japan to ease COVID quarantine norms for business travellers from Nov 8; to boost economy

As the COVID-19 caseload shows a declining trend in Japan, the government has announced to ease quarantine guidelines for business travellers from November 8, Monday, reported news agency Xinhua. According to the new guidelines, business travellers would need to quarantine themselves for only three days. Earlier, it was 10 days for vaccinated travellers arriving in the country for commercial purposes. Under the new rules, business people arriving in Japan will be asked to self-quarantine for three days, reported the news agency.

Further, the order stated that business travellers are allowed to use public transportation and eat out if they test negative for the deadly Coronavirus on the fourth day. The government also directed the companies to keep a track of their clients in order to prevent the further spread of the virus. The new rules will come into effect as early as November 8, Monday next week. It is worth mentioning that the Japan government has been easing the quarantine norms in order to boost the country's economy which has been badly affected due to the highly contagious disease.

Japan to allow foreign students to land at airports

Earlier, it was inevitable for international arrivals to self-quarantine for 14 days after landing at the airports. Subsequently, the quarantine period was reduced to 10 days for those who had taken both doses of the COVID-19 vaccines. Apart from boosting the country's economy, the media report also claimed that the newly appointed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was also planning to permit foreign students to travel to the country which had been stopped after the spread of the contagious virus. However, schools and colleges would be asked to keep a track of their whereabouts from time to time.

Japan reports lowest number of COVID-19 cases since June last year

According to Xinhua reports, the Kishida administration is also planning to increase the maximum number of overseas arrivals from the current 3,500 per day to 5,000. However, the changes would be made later this month. On Monday, Japan reported 86 daily Coronavirus cases, the fewest since June last year and sharply down from a record 25,992 cases reported on August 20 when the country was going through its fifth wave of infections, reported Kyodo News on Tuesday. 

Earlier on Monday, the government had reopened parts of Thailand including the capital Bangkok, for fully vaccinated tourists from 63 countries and territories without quarantine rules, in a bid to revive its tourism sector that has been hit hard by the COVID pandemic.

Image: AP, Pixabay