The new Omicron variant of the coronavirus has also reached Japan. The government had taken strict measures there to keep the variant outside the door.
The country was closed to foreigners on Tuesday, and there will also be stricter quarantine rules for Japanese returning from abroad.
The Japanese government reports that the infected person has been in Namibia, broadcaster NHK reports. That traveller is said to have recently arrived in Japan. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has called the new entry restrictions now in place “temporary” and “exceptional”.
“We are doing this for security reasons until more is clear about the Omicron variant,” he said this week.
Japan is not the only country trying to prevent the spread of Omicron with new travel restrictions, but the Japanese measures are among the strictest in the world. Israel also decided to ban foreigners.