Tokyo, 15 January, /AJMEDIA/
Japan to cut quarantine period for int’l travelers to 10 days
TOKYO – Japan said Friday it will shorten the quarantine period for travelers and returnees from countries and territories severely hit by the highly contagious Omicron variant to 10 days from the current 14, effective Saturday.
The measure, which covers those arriving from effectively all countries and territories outside Japan, comes following research suggesting Omicron has a shorter incubation period than other COVID-19 variants.
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Japan, France to hold 2-plus-2 security talks in mid-January
TOKYO – Japan and France plan to hold virtual ministerial security talks in mid-January focusing on China’s assertive territorial claims in the East and South China seas and North Korea’s nuclear and missile development, Japanese government sources said Friday.
The defense and foreign ministers of the two countries are expected to release documents after the two-plus-two talks, the first of their kind since the last session was held in France in January 2019, the sources said.
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North Korea reports firing drill of railway-borne missile regiment Jan. 14
BEIJING – North Korea carried out a firing drill on Friday to check the proficiency of action procedures for a railway-borne missile regiment, state-run media reported Saturday.
The report by the official Korean Central News Agency came after the South Korean military said the North fired eastward on Friday two projectiles presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles, Pyongyang’s third launch in 10 days.
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Japan to cut 14-day isolation for Omicron close contacts to 10 days
TOKYO – Japan will shorten to 10 days the current 14-day isolation period for close contacts of the Omicron COVID-19 variant among the general public, health minister Shigeyuki Goto said Friday.
The move, aimed at minimizing social disruption and preventing a strain on the medical system, comes as research suggests Omicron has a shorter incubation period than other coronavirus variants.
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North Korea fires 2 apparent short-range ballistic missiles: S. Korea
SEOUL – North Korea fired eastward on Friday two projectiles presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles, the South Korean military said, Pyongyang’s third launch in 10 days.
North Korea had earlier criticized the United States for expanding sanctions on its nationals following the recent launches of what Pyongyang claimed were hypersonic missiles, threatening a “stronger and certain reaction.”
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Ex-Japan PM Kaifu, who dispatched SDF to Persian Gulf, dies at 91
TOKYO – Toshiki Kaifu, Japan’s prime minister for about two years from 1989, died earlier this month, the government said Friday. He was 91.
Kaifu, best known for sending the Maritime Self-Defense Force to the Persian Gulf in 1991 in the SDF’s first war-related overseas mission, died Sunday of natural causes, the House of Representatives said.
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Tokyo’s daily COVID cases top 4,000 for 1st time since late Aug.
TOKYO – Tokyo confirmed 4,051 daily coronavirus cases Friday, topping the 4,000 mark for the first time since Aug. 27, the metropolitan government said.
Japan has been facing a resurgence of the virus amid the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
