Japan will ban entry of foreigners after detecting the Covid-19 variant in the country

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According to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, Japanese citizens and foreign residents can still enter, but must be quarantined for 14 days.

The move came after the Tokyo metropolitan government on Saturday confirmed two new Covid-19 variant cases involving people who had recently returned from the UK.

The two new cases were the first to be discovered outside the country’s airport quarantine.

Five other passengers from Britain were detected on Friday with the variant at Japan’s international airports.

The new coronavirus variant is said to have originated in the UK and is potentially more transmissible. Since its discovery, more than 40 countries have restricted travel from the UK and in some cases from other countries that have documented cases with the variant.
Starting Monday, for example, the United States will require all UK travelers to receive a negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours after embarking on a flight to the United States. Passengers will also be required to provide documentation of their lab results.

Countries such as Denmark, Ecuador, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine have announced restrictions of varying degrees. Others have banned travel or suspended flights from the UK, such as Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia and Spain.

Others have extended travel bans or restrictions to other countries where the variant has been detected, such as Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia. Several countries have also imposed restrictions on travel from South Africa, where a different variant has been reported, according to Maria van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization.

.Source