Japan to keep strict border controls amid COVID surge

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday that borders will remain closed to most foreign nationals until the end of February as the country sees a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Kishida said strict border controls had helped fend off the omicron variant from Japan. At the same time, Japanese authorities are moving to push booster shots as the government plans to set up large-scale vaccination centers to help support inoculations. Okinawa, Yamaguchi and Hiroshima prefectures have gone into a quasi-state of emergency due to COVID-19 surges.