Seven countries and two states have been designated by Japan as areas where the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus first identified in India has been rampant.
The areas designated Monday were the U.S. state of Arkansas, Parana state in Brazil, Estonia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates.
The government will require people departing from these areas who enter Japan to stay for three days at designated facilities. If they test negative on the third day after arrival, they are allowed to move to their place of residence and asked to quarantine there up to the 14th day after they entered Japan.
As some of the nine areas have also been designated as areas where the Alpha variant first identified in Britain or other variants have been rampant, the government had already asked those who departed from those areas to stay for three days at designated facilities.
The same day, the government lifted the Delta variant designation from the U.S. states of Connecticut, Iowa, New York and Rhode Island.
It also ended the designation of places where the Alpha and other variants have been rampant for the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lebanon and the U.S. states of Michigan and Tennessee. People departing from these areas will be exempt from the measure to stay for three days at designated facilities.
All the above moves will be in effect from Thursday.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
