Japan secures more quarantine rooms for returnees amid Omicron threat

Japan has prepared 13,000 quarantine rooms for people returning from abroad, up 2,000 from the previous week, as part of measures against the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Health Minister, Shigeyuki Goto, said on Tuesday that entrants may be required to move to facilities near the airport instead of the place where they arrived, in order to balance the room supply.
According to him, such measures will be helpful in curbing the increase in users of such facilities as quarantine measures turned tighter.
So far, Japan has reported 17 infections linked to the Omicron variant, with four latest cases confirmed at the airport on Tuesday.
The Japanese government has been requiring nationals and foreign residents of Japan who come back from abroad to quarantine in designated facilities for three to 10 days after their arrival.
It said the period would depend on the infection situation of the place where the traveller had stayed.
However, concerns also rose further over the possibility of shortage in such facilities as it was expected that a number of people would return to Japan during the year-end holiday season.
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Goto said the ministry would keep working with municipal governments to secure as many facilities as needed.
He urged the public to understand and cooperate as part of the efforts to control the spread of the new strain despite the inconvenience.
The Omicron variant was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) by South Africa and was named as a “variant of concern.”