Almost 90% of respondents to a Japanese poll backed the prime minister’s decision to suspend new entries by foreign nationals amid concerns about the omicron variant.

The survey by the Yomiuri newspaper carried out from Dec. 3 to 5 also found support for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had risen 6.0 percentage points to 62%. That was one of the highest ratings for the premier, who took office two months ago, and about double that of his predecessor, Yoshihide Suga, when he was forced from office amid criticism for being slow-footed in his pandemic management.

Despite last week’s U-turn on a policy that halted new flight reservations for December, the newspaper said voters probably approved of Kishida’s rapid response to omicron, which some reports say is more contagious than previous coronavirus variants.