Amid omicron scare, Japan imposes travel curbs on 3 more countries: Reports
- Japan has already imposed a 10-day mandatory quarantine requirement at a government-specified facility for travellers from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Namibia and Eswatini.

With the identification of the new Covid-19 variant, omicron, in Botswana in southern Africa, Japan has added three more countries to its list of travel restrictions. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday, who told reporters that his government wants to ensure “border control measures” are strictly in place, according to Nikkei Asia.
In the latest additions, travellers from Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia will have to undergo mandatory quarantine at a government-designated accommodation for 10 days. The country has already imposed tighter entry norms for individuals arriving from Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Eswatini, and Zimbabwe. Passengers from these nations will also have to take Covid-19 tests on their third, sixth and 10th day of mandatory quarantine.
This comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday urged Southeast Asian countries not to let their “guards down” and increase surveillance, boost health and social measures, and intensify vaccination coverage as the world grapples to combat the omicron Covid-19 variant.
In a statement, WHO Southeast Asia director Poonam Khetrapal Singh said that countries in the region must gauge the risk of import of omicron variant via international travel and adopt measures accordingly to tackle it.
“The more Covid-19 circulates, the more opportunities the virus will have to change and mutate, and the pandemic will last longer,” she added in the statement.
Also Read | Omicron Covid variant: What do we know about risks, symptoms, tests
She stated that till now 31 per cent of the southeast Asian region’s population is fully vaccinated against coronavirus, while 21 per cent has been partially jabbed. “Nearly 48 per cent of about a billion people are yet to receive even a single dose of the Covid-19 vaccine,” Singh noted.
Japan is among a host of nations, which have imposed travel restrictions or bans on travellers from African nations owing to fear over the omicron Covid-19 variant. The B.1.1.529 variant has been listed by the WHO under its ‘variant of concern’ category, causing paranoia in the global sphere. Although the global health agency said that studies are still being done on the new Covid-19 variant to understand it, scientists have pointed out that it can undergo nearly 30 mutations in the coronavirus protein that determines its transmissibility among people.
As far as India is concerned, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level review meeting on Saturday where discussions pertaining to the country’s Covid-19 situation amid the omicron threat were held for two hours. Multiple states, including Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Delhi, among others, have announced flight bans, mandatory RT-PCR tests and vaccination proof for travellers coming from ‘at-risk’ countries.
-
US monitoring 6 for monkeypox, says report; Spain’s tally at 14| Top points
Top US medical body, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is monitoring six people in the United States for possible monkeypox infection after they sat near a traveller who had symptoms of the virus while on a flight from Nigeria to the United Kingdom in early May, a report by American news network CNN said on Friday. Australia has also reported a probable case of the monkeypox in a traveller.
-
Elon Musk shares meme, tagged 'sexist', on dividing time between Twitter, Tesla
Elon Musk is apparently torn on dividing his time between Tesla and Twitter, it seems, as uncertainty clouds the $44 billion deal to acquire the social media giant. In the latest post on Friday, he shared a meme and stressed that “Tesla is on my mind 24/7”. According to a Bloomberg report. The meme that Musk has shared has been viral on social media for quite some time. Musk has not yet responded.
-
Putin's daughter flew to Munich over 50 times to meet partner Zelensky: Report
Russian President Vladimir Putin's a former acrobatic dancer, daughter Katerina Tikhonova, is apparently in a relationship with a Munich-based ballet dancer Igor Zelensky, unrelated to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, though the duo share the same surname. Between 2018 and 2019, Putin's daughter flew to Munich more than 50 times, a joint investigation by independent Russian media outlet iStories and German magazine Der Spiegel has revealed.
-
SpaceX paid $250,000 to settle sexual harassment claim against Elon Musk: Report
SpaceX paid an employee $250,000 to settle a claim she was sexually harassed by Elon Musk in 2016, according to a report from Insider. Representatives for California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Hawthorne did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
-
Joe Biden has little to entice Kim Jong Un to stop weapons tests
The last time a US president visited Seoul in 2019, Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un agreed to restart nuclear talks during an impromptu meeting at the heavily fortified demilitarized zone. As Joe Biden prepares to land in Seoul on Friday, the White House hasn't indicated he'll be heading to the DMZ. The White House has largely avoided stern reactions to Kim Jong Un latest tests, including an ICBM launch on March 24.