Coronavirus

Tighter border controls for visitors from China

Courtesy of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases
The omicron variant of the novel coronavirus is seen in an electron micrograph.

Jiji Press

10:00 JST, January 9, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japan on Sunday tightened further its COVID-19 border controls for visitors from mainland China, ahead of Chinese New Year holidays in late January during which travel demand is expected to surge.

On Dec. 30, Japan started requiring all arrivals from mainland China, where coronavirus infections are spreading, to undergo simplified COVID-19 tests and quarantine themselves at designated facilities if they get positive results in the testing.

Under the tighter border controls, the simplified tests are replaced by more precise quantitative antigen and polymerase chain reaction tests. Also, travelers flying directly from mainland China need to provide a negative result from a COVID-19 test conducted within 72 hours of departure.