Kishida says restrictions unnecessary despite record COVID-19 cases

There are border restrictions, aren't there?

Except keeping the border closed. We don't want any foreign variants outcompeting the Japanese one.

It is also an issue that medical staff, especially nurses are amongst those being infected at a higher rate now.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday that the government still has no plans to impose COVID-19 restrictions on people's movements despite recent record infections caused by the highly transmissible BA.5 Omicron subvariant.

So unlock the damn border then !!

Had my first bout recently. Incredibly mild thanks to those lovely vaccines.

It is also an issue that medical staff, especially nurses are amongst those being infected at a higher rate now.

I have a few friends who are Nurses. The picture they are painting is quite bleak. They are stretched thin with so many of their coworkers out with COVID

That's the real difference between Japan and China. At a point, Japanese people take full responsibility of the risks and start acting with a respectable self-discipline. Very good, very accurate attitude against new waves of pandemic.

A young fresh dynamic leader at play here. Very refreshing.

But being fully vacinated, double boosted, and married to a Japanese lady for 25 years I am still considered a transmission risk and am unable to enter without a compelling reason, applying for exemption, and testing negative before entering. As soon as they ditch border restrictions the better. Covid is well and truly here to stay. It's time to move on.

It seems like just yesterday that people got their 3rd shot which was billed as the final top off.

Get with the times, that was so 2021, it's 4th shot now!

Remember that a "strong request" was enough to make bars, cafes, game centers, heck, even shopping malls -- the temples of consumerism in a consumerist country -- close down, and Koike Yuriko even apologized for taking these "severe measures.

You forget the threat of fines and the giving of treats (70,000yen per day) for any little doggy that rolled over and complied. It's was not the 'urges'.

The current wave of infections would soon be over if people stopped taking PCR tests. Remember what Dr Kary Mullis, the scientist who developed the PCR testing, used to say: "The PCR tests should never be used to diagnose disease."

After reading the following I think we are in for trouble:

Daishiro Yamagiwa, minister in charge of economic revitalization and the coronavirus response, announced the policy at a press conference, saying the government will help local authorities "strike a balance between infection control and economic and social activities."

"Striking a balance" in this case is not only a meaningless cliche but also a dangerous one. There is no normality when you are the middle of a plague. The plague will never accommodate you. You have to deal with it as you would an enemy. You have to dodge it and fight it with what antibodies are available. You have realize there is no "balance." Not until we have stopped this plague once and for all. Meanwhile, like it or not, every step you take should be with the plague in mind.

Jeremy RigbyToday  08:28 am JST

But being fully vacinated, double boosted, and married to a Japanese lady for 25 years I am still considered a transmission risk and am unable to enter without a compelling reason, applying for exemption, and testing negative before entering. As soon as they ditch border restrictions the better. Covid is well and truly here to stay. It's time to move on.

Jeremy, I don’t know who gave you that information but it is wrong. Spouses have been able to enter the whole time, and relatives like grandparents can already enter. Also there is no vaccination requirement to enter and also the test at the airport is not needed. Took less than 30 mins for grandparents to be out of the airport. (Note: there is a tier system depending on where you are coming from so it little varies between countries). Just apply for the visa before coming and no problem.

They've gone into full "do-nothing-but-pray" mode and will wait until the medical system collapses to do anything (and then say they could now have known). If I were a medical worker I'd walk away. They are facing the risk of infection every single day, being forced to work grueling hours, and being spat on by the government, all while the staff themselves receive no extra benefits at all.

Not a huge surprise, though. Kishida is an empty suit with absolutely no ideas of his own.

Things sure move at a snails pace...

Long Covid is a thing and Japan is gonna need to deal with a lot more of it this wave…

Yes I support his statement. He’s been travelling and is very aware of how other parts of the world is dealing with covid. No to Restrictions!!! Life Goes on!!! People need to stop live in fear. You only got one life.

Restrictions unnecessary, aside from the restrictions that are currently in place against foreigners.....

More unnecessary deaths…. When some parent is on the news pouring out their heart and soul because their normally healthy child died from Covid …. Maybe the jgov will come around …. Article 25 of the Japanese Constitution absolutely gives the govt the authority to impose any restriction in the name of public health! Or the lawsuits start piling up because residents of Japan have the right to good health …. Strange to see the jgov give up…. Surrender …. And for most wannabe visitors…/ the borders are open!

in other words our clueless dear leader have no idea what to do.

I wish I could ignore long Covid…. I wish I could be like all you out there that are like meh it’s all psychological but the reality is I’m living this everyday…..

It's been 2 years. At this point we all have to deal with it. This PM is dealing with alot trying to keep Japan afloat. Give him a break.

New infections are at an all time high and have not even begun to level off. Meanwhile deaths are still low. However, the lag between new infections and deaths was about 2-4 weeks previously (Delta and first Omicron waves). So, the real moment of truth is still a few weeks away. Stay safe everyone!

@Brian William Meissner

It happens. I had "long mono" and it took me at least 6 months to get over it.

It seems you are trying your best to fearmonger that data/facts clearly show your claims are not as such.

Not disputing anything but the data does not clearly show that.

Below is one of the notes under the deaths graphs

※ Above figure does not include 9,491 deaths where sex and/or age were not disclosed by the municipality goverment.

Be kind to others and stop judging people who refuse the shot.

But the reason for refusing the shots is a fair indicator to judge people.

For example believing that the vaccine is more harmful than the disease in general is downright stupidity.

That's is believing that all health authorities in every govt are ignoring the mountains of data that must be available now that should clearly show that more people have died and got sick because of the vaccine than the virus.

@ian Believing authorities, without question is childish and foolish.

After 3 years, the "conspiracy theorists" are right as often as the expert technocrats who are destroying democracy.

My super-fit, extremely cautious beloved is self-isolating, having tested positive.

Fever aside, she feels perfectly fine.

Stay safe, everyone!

@ian Believing authorities, without question is childish and foolish.

Of course, but saying that is childish and foolish.

You actually believe there are people who believe the authorities without a question?

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday that the government still has no plans

These are the moments that I cherish.

I had it two weeks ago, wasn’t pleasant but life goes in if you’re vaccinated and healthy. Good decision by the government.

high cases in this sweltering summer heat? Any virus whatever variant it is will be scorched in seconds after leaving its host. Good decision PM Kishida!

Under the policy, aimed at the elderly and those at high risk, prefectural governments facing strains on their medical systems can urge such residents to stay home and for members of the public to receive COVID-19 vaccinations, according to officials.

Wow, prefectural governments now have the power to urge! Kishida must have worked tirelessly on this new policy.

No country can stomach the economic cost of closing a country for what is now a bad cold. That includes Australia, New Zealand and other previously hard line countries. China will be forced to open up soon as well.

This is good news, with a pinch of salt. Governments in general shouldn't be trusted to keep their word, so the situation could change tomorrow. But they really do need to open up the country to tourism again. The facts clearly show that keeping cross-border flow to a trickle has done nothing to stop the virus from getting here and spreading. Not to mention the questionably safe effective jabs and masks.

In any event, reintroducing restrictions will be counterproductive in every way aside from suppressing the superficial daily case count that keeps the media occupied but otherwise does little. The negative effects of reintroducing on society and the economy of further restrictions will be far greater than opening up.

And the government needs to try harder to convince the public to get back to normal The ads on TV telling people it's safe to remove their masks when outdoors are laughably ineffective given the number of the masked walking around with them on during this heat.

Had my first bout recently. Incredibly mild thanks to those lovely vaccines.

exactly my nurse sister in law had it after being triple vaxxed, very mild symptoms ,

my elderly mother in law whose high risk with underlying conditions also had it average symptoms, about the same when she had her second shot, shes fine now and convinced without her vaccination her covid symptoms would have been far worse.

my sister in law is seeing this play out in her hospital as well, vaxxed elderly infected are having less severe symptoms as compared to those before the vax was even available.

the less severe your symptoms the less chance of you getting long covid, lung damage is permanent and life long. Ive had the flu a few times in the last 20yrs yet ive never developed any long term health effects neither has any of my family.

No Covid isnt the Flu, its far more contagious and the long term, health effects far more severe.

Now if anti vaxxers dont want to get vaxxed fine, but dont sprout opinion or lies without any medical evidence to back your claims

 That includes Australia, New Zealand

you can add Japan now, since theyve got record infection and have no plan for limiting movement of people. the only positive thing to come out of all this is deaths are down considerably, now this is most likely from vaccinations.

Now antivaxxers might state , no its the BA5 varient, well thats all fine until a more lethal varient comes along, this is more likely as more and more people are infected and the virus has a chance to mutate again.

Imagine a variant that has say a 5% fatality rate, would this wake people up?

200k cases per day thats 6 million per month, 300k deaths per month. yeah that would wake people up for sure.

Its the complacency that causing this resurgence in infections, just when everybody though covid was over,

covid says, I love complacency, bring it on!

Talking 3rd booster by xmas in Australia.

So COVID is now being treated like the Common Cold... ?

Annual Flu shots were optional, I wonder if Quarterly COVID shots will become the norm, and worse still... mandatory.