Tokyo, Dec 26: Japan announced Saturday it would temporarily ban non-resident foreign nationals from entering the country, citing the risk of a new, highly infectious variant of the coronavirus.
The country’s travel ban will take effect on Dec. 28 and run through January, government officials said in a statement.
The announcement comes as Tokyo reached a record number of new COVID-19 cases this weekend, with health officials recording 949 new cases in the capital city on Saturday.
Officials have confirmed that a more highly contagious strain of the virus from the United Kingdom has entered the country, with the first detected cases involving passengers arriving from Britain.
