The government has decided to urge people who enter Japan from Europe, Egypt and Iran, including Japanese nationals, to stay at home or in accommodation facilities for 14 days and avoid using public transportation.
The government also plans to revoke visas that were or would have been issued through Friday.
Measures are expected to be decided at an urgent meeting of the National Security Council on Wednesday, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will likely announce them at the government's Novel Coronavirus Response Headquarters.
Restrictions on the entry of individuals from Europe and parts of the Middle East, where infections with the new coronavirus are spreading greatly, will be similar to those currently applied to people from China and South Korea,
Both single-entry visas, which visitors have to obtain each time they enter Japan, and multiple-entry visas, through which foreigners can enter Japan an unlimited number of times during a set period, will both be suspended. Visa waivers will also be voided.
The call for people to stay at home or in accommodations, and the decision to suspend visas, are scheduled to be implemented from Saturday to the end of April.
At Wednesday's meeting, the prime minister is to add some provinces of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and the whole of Iceland, to the countries and regions from which entry is refused based on the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law.
Foreign nationals who have stayed in these countries or regions within the past 14 days will be subject to the refusal of entry into Japan.
An expert panel of the government's Coronavirus Response Headquarters, chaired by Takaji Wakita, head of the National Institute of Infectious Disease, asked the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry on Tuesday to take action regarding people who enter Japan from Europe and Southeast Asia.
The panel also urged that Japanese nationals and others be called on to stay at home or in accommodations and monitor their health for two weeks, even if they do not have symptoms of the virus.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
