Coronavirus: Japan lifts state of emergency but keeps borders closed

Despite the lifting of the state of emergency, Tokyo has extended the list of those whose nationals cannot enter the archipelago by eleven countries. This measure also concerns residents with a visa.

Eleven countries, including India, were added on Wednesday May 27 to the list of those whose nationals cannot enter Japan because of the coronavirus pandemic. Announced on May 25, the decision brings the number of “at risk” countries to 111, affected by a measure in place since April 3. Strictly applied, it prohibits their fellow citizens from entering the Archipelago, even if they have a resident visa.

This strict closure contrasts with the lifting of the state of emergency, decided on Monday by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, due to the significant drop in contamination. By Tuesday, a total of 16,632 cases of Covid-19 and 851 deaths had been recorded. Activities will gradually resume with, firstly, the reopening of schools and museums, under certain conditions.

This revival is currently taking place with all borders closed. The government outlined, on May 18, a plan to reopen the country in three stages. Priority would go to business people and researchers. Then come foreign students and, ultimately, tourists. But no timetable has been set, even though summer is planned for the first stage. « It is difficult to predict, and the government will make a decision based on the state of infection in each country, » said government spokesman Yoshihide Suga.

As the world continues its levelling off after weeks of paralysis, focusing on safety distances and barrier gestures to avoid a possible second wave, in Madrid, the residents benefited from a first relief with the reopening of the terraces of cafes, restaurants and green spaces, after one of the strictest confinements in the world in the face of the pandemic that left China in late 2019. Another country heavily hit by the Covid-19, Italy has taken a new step in lifting restrictions, with the reopening of sports halls and swimming pools, a week after that of restaurants. And Tuesday is the ancient site of Pompeii (south) which will reopen. In India, domestic flights resumed Monday with the obligation to submit to a temperature measurement and to have the government’s tracking application, Aarogya Setu. In Montreal, epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic in Canada, the downtown area resumed its colours on Monday with the reopening of stores on the famous rue Saint-Catherine, after two months of lockdown.

By Mouad Mekroum