Japan to require COVID-19 tests for all visitors from China

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Tuesday that Japan will tighten border controls for COVID-19 by requiring tests for all visitors from China starting Friday as a temporary emergency measure against the surging infections there.

The announcement comes days after the World Health Organization said it was very concerned about rising reports of severe cases across China after the country largely abandoned its “zero-COVID” policy.

The quantitative antigen test that is already conducted on entrants suspected of having COVID-19 will be mandatory for all people arriving from mainland China.

Those who test positive will be quarantined for seven days at designated facilities and their samples will be used for genome analysis.

The measure begins Friday, just as Japan heads into New Year's holidays marked by parties and travel when infections are expected to rise.

Last week India also mandated a COVID-19 test for travellers from China, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Thailand, while ordering quarantine for those with symptoms or testing positive. India has also begun randomly testing 2% of international passengers arriving at airports.

Kishida said China's lack of information and transparency about the infections made it difficult to assess and figure out safety measures.

There are huge discrepancies between information from central and local authorities, and between the government and private organisations, he said.

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