With Tokyo still under a state of emergency and the Tokyo Olympics just a few short months away, the Japanese government has decided to place further restrictions on new international arrivals to prevent a possible spike in coronavirus cases. Nikkei reports that, while Japanese airlines including ANA and Japan Airlines can each bring in 3,400 arrivals per week, foreign airlines will be restricted to carry no more than 100 passengers per flight into the country.
The new rules are tighter than the restrictions put in place a year ago, when non-Japanese airlines were able to carry up to 300 passengers per flight. According to Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, the change was made to ensure that quarantine measures, which have also been recently revised, are properly carried out.
Under stronger quarantine measures, foreign nationals arriving from countries and regions where the new variants of coronavirus have been reported are required to quarantine for three days at a designated government facility, before spending the remainder of the two-week period in self-isolation in accommodation of their choosing.
The new passenger cap comes as the government reportedly considers strictly limiting the number of people allowed to enter the country after the current state of emergency is lifted. The government is also set to make a decision this month on whether to allow overseas spectators in for the Tokyo Olympics.
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