Tokyo [Japan], March 30 : Owing to a low percentage of positive results from sampling at airports, Japan is considering scrapping a requirement of a negative Covid-19 test for those travelling from China, Kyodo News reported.
According to the relaxed restrictions, which may go into effect in early April, as long as they have received at least three doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, passengers from mainland China will no longer be required to produce documentation of a negative coronavirus test done 72 hours or less before departure.
The Japanese government began requiring Covid-19 testing of all arrivals from the Chinese mainland, including those who had been there within the previous seven days, at the end of the last year, according to Kyodo News.
Early in January, Japan added a requirement for confirmation of a negative test further to tighten border inspections for visitors from the Chinese mainland.
However, the authorities decided to test only passengers on particular aircraft departing from China in March after observing a decline in the amount of Covid-19-positive tests.
The relaxations came a day after Japan's audit board had requested the health ministry to provide supporting documentation for contracts with the US and British coronavirus vaccine manufacturers after finding a weak basis for ordering a total of 882 million doses in fiscal 2020 and 2021, Kyodo News reported.
The report released on Wednesday by the Board of Audit of Japan also found that at least 30 per cent of the doses were either cancelled or disposed of after expiring.
In Japan a total of 33,458,345 people have tested positive as of 7:30 pm, March 29 (Japan time), reported Kyodo News.
The coronavirus vaccination rate in Japan is as high as 68.57 per cent of people being administered the third dose, 46.33 per cent fourth and 24.16 per cent fifth as of March 29.
Notably, three years back in March 2020, Japan imposed stricter travel restrictions for visitors from South Korea and China, as part of enhanced efforts by the government to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
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