As the coronavirus situation continues to evolve worldwide, Japan has again revised its quarantine measures by tightening measures for some arrivals and relaxing them for others.
With the change, which will take effect on Sunday, people traveling from Moscow will be required to spend six days in government-designated facilities as part of the mandatory 14-day quarantine period. Those travelers will also need to undergo tests for COVID-19 upon arrival and on the third and sixth day of their stay. Only those who test negative will be allowed to self-isolate for the remainder of the two-week period in facilities of their choosing.
Currently travelers from several other regions in Russia ーMoscow Oblast, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Republic of Karelia, Saratov Oblast, St. Petersburg ー are required to stay in government-picked facilities for three days. From Sunday, Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, as well as Costa Rica, Dominica and Namibia, will also be covered by this rule, which also requires an additional test for the coronavirus on the third day.
Meanwhile, as the situations in Latvia, Switzerland and Vietnam have begun to stabilize, people arriving from those countries will no longer need to stay in government-designated facilities after entering the country. The change will take effect on Sunday.
However, strict policies with an entry ban on foreign nationals, including residents of Japan, remain in place for India and several neighboring countries and regions where infections with the more transmissible delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 are believed to be rampant.
Infections with the delta variant are also rising in Japan.