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Japan announced plans Friday to relax restrictions on close contacts of people who test positive for COVID-19, reducing the self-isolation period to as short as three days.
Under the new rules, those who test negative on the second and third day after close contact will no longer need to quarantine. The previous threshold had been five days. The self-isolation period for untested close contacts will be shortened from seven days to five.
Japan reported around 195,000 new COVID cases on Friday in an ongoing record surge. Rather than tightening restrictions on movement, the government is relaxing curbs with an eye toward preventing staffing shortages and the economic impact that would result.
“We are not considering new restrictions on movement at this point,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday at the Keidanren business lobby’s summer forum in Karuizawa.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare that day expanded eligibility for those seeking a fourth vaccine dose to health care and nursing care staff.
Japan, U.S. conduct joint exercises involving 52 aircraft
Nikkei – Jul 14
Japan conducted large-scale joint exercises with the United States over nearby waters earlier this month involving a total of 52 aircraft, the Air Self-Defense Force said Thursday, amid intensifying maritime activities by China and Russia in the region.
Japan unlikely to ask people to curb activities despite COVID spike
Kyodo – Jul 14
The minister in charge of Japan’s COVID-19 response said Thursday the government does not expect to ask people to curb social and economic activities again even as the country faces a seventh wave of infections in recent weeks fueled by the highly-transmissible BA.5 Omicron subvariant.
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