Japan considering coronavirus variant test for all inbound travelers

Always surprised by the use of the word ‘consider’

if the coronavirus is as bad as they say what’s to consider? Just do it. Can just imagine the meeting ‘there is a deadly variant, do ya think we should test people for it?”

Always surprised by the use of the word ‘consider’

if the coronavirus is as bad as they say what’s to consider? Just do it. Can just imagine the meeting ‘there is a deadly variant, do ya think we should test people for it?”

Not one person is following the quarentine request. They arrive via plane, take the Train, ride a Bus, get in a Taxi, and go out to get food, and drinks. If you think otherwise you have been fooled!

Well why wouldn’t you???

I am considering whether or not to make a comment. Either there is something wrong with J gov or the reporting -answer both !

Well, wouldn't it be nice if Japan were to mull testing the people who live here in any meaningful way?

Or to get us higher in the vaccination tables than Rwanda?

Noo, much better to use the old, tried and tested, "foreigner is very scare" routine, and get the boys out to the steakhouse.

3 business men from my company arrived about 3 weeks ago in Japan. 2 from Czech Republic, 1 from the US.

All three were required to go to self quarantine for 2 weeks in a nearby airport hotel.

But this requirement came from our company.

So they stayed in their hotels, but went out every day to buy some food.

The good thing: all 3 had a negative test from their home country and they were not allowed to enter our company for 2 weeks.

And they said, the airplanes were 30% full. That means traveling started already and people can go in and out easily.

They said that before they leave their countries, they have to show the negative test at the check in counter from the airline to some medical staff.

And the test result must be 72 hours old and in English!

They also have business in Nagoya, but In Japan you can get an English Test result only in Tokyo.

So before they go back to their home countries, they have to get tested again 72 hours before the flight in Tokyo.

Considering.  Thinking about. Might do something. Oh yes! We all want news that has not happen yet but might. May. There is a chance of. But as I said before, we pay tax so the Japanese Government uses our tax money to utilize their brain power to handle problems like this. You cannot read the news like this and be less than sarcastic.

It doesn’t matter if people take a train or bus as long as they are wearing a mask and preferably a shield and refrain from speaking as much as possible.

Anyway, all those getting on a plane are required to take a test for the virus thus the people traveling should be free of the virus, right?

The risk is extremely low.

The risk then is not so much from people entering Japan but from domestic transmission.

Japan dithers and considers so much that it is causing massive financial problems which the government is not adequately dealing with!

I will be back in the UK soon where I will be vaccinated. My wife a medical professional here in Japan will be vaccinated after me.

How far behind things are in Japan is just so unbelievable...

And for those thinking of travel; testing here and certified proof of that, has cost me over 30,000 yen.

Not a bad idea. Need to discuss it for awhile but it will probably happen. Things take time in Japan.

Tests before were 60%~90% accurate. Nobody knows the new accuracy because there are ever evolving variants.

If people are negative, why can not they take the train ? I do not understand this policy. It is just to make taxis making money

I do not know about quarantine at a hotel, but if at home, I think it is allowed to go out to buy some food, but not staying in the place to eat.

Quarantine procédures are abusive as people have tested negative.

kurisupisu:

I will be back in the UK soon where I will be vaccinated. My wife a medical professional here in Japan will be vaccinated after me.

Are you paying it for yourself or are you relying on the NHS?

Consider. The magical word in here. Consider, discuss, have a meeting, panels, more discussions, research.

On one hand they consider test for inbound travelers, on the second hand the foreigners who wanted to visit Olympics can't come, because they are all infected. No need to test them. If Japanese national comes from the same country, the person will be let in. How about a married couple, where one person is Japanese and the other foreign national. Yeah, different rules than normal tourist, but still - why different rules apply for returning citizens and why different for returning foreign residents?

So just make up your mind. Either ban everyone from entering/returning, shutting down the immigration. Or just test the people. It's not a rocket science and it's not a problem to test all who arrive. Either this or that. Nothing in between.

What, they don’t already test for variants?

They also have business in Nagoya, but In Japan you can get an English Test result only in Tokyo.

Not true. There are clinics throughout Japan that do travel Covid tests.

Are you paying it for yourself or are you relying on the NHS?

It is illegal to buy and sell Covid vaccines privately in the UK. Vaccines are only available via the NHS. You do have to be registered with a GP and have a UK address though. The booking portal uses your info taken from your GP.

I reckon we should consider ourselves lucky to be in Japan, and consider what it would be like elsewhere, then consider whether to criticise praise our leaders for being considerably smarter than others in the world

Not true. There are clinics throughout Japan that do travel Covid tests.

I just can tell you that these guys can not get the english certificate in Nagoya, and they were told to go to Tokyo.

But it is good to know, that you can get it now throughout Japan.

That is very helpful

At this rate foreigners wil never be allowed back in

If they have additional requirements for inbound traveler, please do actually enforce such measures on inboud Japanese nationals as well (not just name and shame). Otherwise, there won't be any point on any additional requirements.

@bo I do consider myself lucky to live in Japan but I’m also considering whether I will ever be able leave here because of the considerable slow rollout of the ONE vaccine that has been approved

They also have business in Nagoya, but In Japan you can get an English Test result only in Tokyo. "Advanced country ".

Not true. Travel clinics provide english language Covid tests for travel all over Japan.

@kurisupisu

I will be back in the UK soon where I will be vaccinated. My wife a medical professional here in Japan will be vaccinated after me.

Interesting. Through some of your posts, it seems you often did not consider the risk of covid to be high (like I do actually) but will go overseas to get the vaccine. Why don’t you wait your turn in Japan ?

One of your recent previous post below suggests you are not in a hurry to get an untested vaccine

Mar. 12 12:01 pm JST

There are plenty of ways to protect oneself without having to take untested vaccines and hope for the best.

I have been on trains, to meetings and restaurants. All the while I have been conscious of my behavior and the need to take simple precautions.

The result is that I have been virus free for over a month.

stickman: "if the coronavirus is as bad as they say what’s to consider? Just do it."

Yeah, but that would be unpopular with Japanese nationals who might be flying in and carrying the virus and don't want to risk the chance they could be caught... and it's an election year. If foreigners WERE to be allowed in you'd bet it would be mandatory... for them and them alone.

“While speaking of the need to tighten border controls on an NHK television program, Tamura also said the government is considering contracting private security companies to monitor those who should be self-quarantining at their accommodation to make sure they adhere to the rules.”

I like that! People who arrive in the US sneak out. I do not think some adhere to the rules. I know a couple who did not.

it is costly to hire private security but should they catch a few and broadcast the consequences - maybe people will soon adhere without being watched. Spot check may be possible later.

For the safety of the people.

In all countries like Europe, they do not allow people from other countries outside the EU to come in except some countries that have low cases but they will always allow their own nationalities in. But they have to quarantine. But they announced in FB they were going around to eat at restaurants because the food was awful when they had to just get food from the grocery store to their room.

Will the Japanese goverment considers relaxing the quarantine rules IF some one has already had both jabs? will there be a need to self isolate? I think Thailand is considering this move.

Testing for variant strains in incoming travelers is all well and good, but the best thing to do is to get a massive vaccination program underway. Until most people have gotten antibodies in their systems, the plague will continue. The question is, wait for the plague to run rampant through the population, to the point where most people have antibodies because they were sick, or control the plague with modern methods like vaccinations?

I thought everyone inbound has to have a COVID test on arrival. Would not then it be normal procedure for anyone who test positive with COVID to then have their strain checked for which type it is. Or are Japanese arrivals from some countries not even checked at all with any test! Foreigners we know need at test 72 hours before arrival and then again on arrival and I thought even Japanese, arriving from certain countries at least, need this too.

So what are they considering here. A new special test for COVID variants ( I hadn't heard of this test before and a quick search on google found no mention of such a type of test) developed in Japan. Then two types of tests for everyone inbound, regular COVID test and new Japanese variant COVID test. This story really makes no sense.

How can Japan test for a virus considering that the country doesn't have enough vacinations for the citizen?

Must be done not consider.

A great idea. If the government leaders and the medical experts were indeed serious about declaring victory over this pandemic, Japan should make it mandatory that all incoming travelers regardless of nationality wear monitor ankle bracelets for the 14 days of quarantine so the authorities can track their movements.

This is ridiculous. If Japan is only testing 10’s of 1,000s per day, why not do for every test in the country? Seriously , why not do full gene sequencing on every positive patient? I think public Universities in my state alone could manage this workload for Japan without even adding staff.

A couple of questions that I will answer in no particular order.

1.My test is on the NHS.

I was surprised to be called up!

I am not into the vaccine as IMHO I believe that I could handle the virus.

I have pretty much protected myself despite being in close contact with an infected friend for several hours.

He had symptoms no worse than a moderate flu.

Other people are different due to age and immunity etc and I have no desire to condemn or condone their opinion on taking the vaccine or not.

For me,I am not enthusiastic about the preservatives and thimerosal etc that they are laced with.

However, there is a reason to have the vaccine.

That is being able to return to normality and there is a certain amount of peer pressure to have it and do so, especially in the UK.

Also, over there, everything we can’t do now or are too frightened to do, we will be soon able to do.

The fear of family members due to the constant message of death and side effects will fade.

If aí were here and had no desire to travel then I wouldn’t be bothered that much.

However I feel about myself it is also others that should be considered.

And as many Brits on here know , the situation is very different to Japan.

Before it was was my intention to return to the UK and I will undergo at least 3 (negative) PCR tests to do so in order to have the ability to move around.

@didou

Be careful not to fool yourself about safety in Japan. Japan only tests the sickest people and somehow believes it is safe to assume everyone else in Japan is “safe” and covid free. Outside Japan, countries test 100’s millions of people and report millions of positive cases are immediately deemed “unsafe” - knowing that most of these cases are mild or asymptomatic and these people would never have even be tested or detected in Japan. Additionally, many of the cases are the fault of individual - not a disease-ridden country

Personally, I would weigh risks as equal in UK (or US) vs. Japan for April/May 2021. Or potentially Japan will be riskier, because nobody really knows the actual threat level now, so no-one can predict it later.

(I’m fully vaccinated)

The virus isn't so deadly. It mostly affects old people (sad but true)

Healthy people can beat it with their natural immune systems and a healthy diet and lifestyle

You can still infect others even if you've had the jab so its almost a given that you'll still need to mask up and distance whilst still getting jabbed multiple times every year.