Akula comments

190m vaccine doses have done the trick it seems. Delta has just fizzled out.

Not planning a visit until April - but I am guessing as things stand, my Japanese citizen wife and child would be allowed in but not me? These days I just enter on a tourist permit.

I thought I might find a conspiracy theorist here and I wasn't disappointed. The fact of the matter is the virus has hit a wall of vaccinations (185M doses in Japan to date) and preventive behaviors such as mask wearing.

The good news about this outbreak is that it will eventually lead to the departure of Jacinda Ardern, the worst prime minister New Zealand has ever had. She looks absolutely exhausted after 18 months of the pandemic.

Ardern and Labour paying the price for a botched vaccine rollout. There are some massive problems on the horizon for New Zealand. Rampant inflation and an impending exodus of skilled people once things are calmer in the UK and Australia.

NZ has made a major mess of things when it comes to the slow vaccine rollout, and Jacinda Ardern should resign given her abject incompetence. However this vaxathon was a good idea, and I am glad to see it has been a success.

The issue with this is that the Greens and Labour want to destroy the agricultural sector, which is the only thing that really makes NZ any money.

A few more years of Jacinda Ardern, and NZ will be the South Pacific's answer to Venezuela.

COVID just seems to have fizzled out. 7 cases in Okinawa and 11 in Hyogo today for example. It will be interesting to eventually find out what has happened. Vaccination and masks can't be the only answer. I can only assume the virus has burnt itself out.

No way! Xi Jinping AKA Winnie the Pooh needs to accept that Taiwan is an independent country.

Taiwan has its own government, military, laws, electoral system, border controls and currency. Therefore it is a country.

While I was optimistic about the COVID situation improving in Japan, I did not expect cases to fall as quickly as they have. Has COVID just simply started to peter out?

Just under 80 million fully vaccinated people in Japan now. Things really moving in the right direction.

Active cases less than a tenth of what they were at their peak.

Hokkaido with only 16 new cases. I think we can say COVID in Japan has been and gone.

170M vaccine doses now, with close to 79M people fully vaccinated. I think we've seen the end of any major outbreaks in Japan.

Cases falling everywhere - 8 new cases on the entire island of Shikoku today for example.

The funny thing is that a lot of left leaning people who are normally apologists for Ardern, are now sticking the boot in.

What isn't funny, is that you have an entire island, that hasn't had a case for almost a year, still suffering with COVID restrictions. More than a few lefties I know on the South Island have now well and truly had enough of the PM.

Numbers falling through the floor. Vaccinations the reason why.

Amazing to think active cases are a tenth of what they were not so long ago.

Well done Japan for obliterating the virus.

Just goes to show how the vaccination program is working.

Close to 90 million people in Japan have now had their first dose, and over 75m are fully vaccinated.

https://vdata.nikkei.com/newsgraphics/coronavirus-japan-vaccine-status/

Already conspiracy theorists questioning the numbers but the cases were always going to fall given vaccinations are starting to reach some high levels (close to 160m jabs in total)

Great to see an improvement once again. Some prefectures seeing days of no cases at all. Kagawa had its first day with no new COVID cases since July for example.

Vaccination rates starting to get up there, but some worrying numbers in some prefectures today, even if most are very low.

That was a horrible game of rugby to watch - South Africa's tactics were effective but killed the game as a spectacle. The All Blacks made way too many errors and were just lucky that Jordie Barrett was on song with his boot.

The All Blacks turned down several kickable penalties, which they should have taken. If the Boks were forced to play catch up, the All Blacks would have found it much easier to break them down.

Numbers slightly higher after the long weekend, but the overall trend remains good. Just under 70m people in Japan fully vaccinated now, so expect cases to continue their falling trend.

No doubt I'll get some downvotes from JT's resident conspiracy theorists.

The right thing for Fiji to do. A closed border strategy for countries is not sustainable.

Tourist income is vital for the Fijian economy.

Still some way to go with the vaccine program, but I have no doubt that the 153m vaccines doses administered to date have made a big difference, with two thirds of the population having had at least one dose, and close to 70m people being fully vaccinated.

https://vdata.nikkei.com/newsgraphics/coronavirus-japan-vaccine-status/

Impressive to see now that 90% of over 65s have had at least one dose, and 88.6% are fully vaccinated.

Well done Japan!

I see serious trouble ahead for New Zealand. Citizens can't get back into the country, and many skilled workers will leave as soon as the world is in a better place. Jacinda Ardern and her government botched the vaccine rollout, and this lockdown is the result of it. They've created such a climate of fear among their citizens that many are happy to be locked down at the sight of a single case. The elimination strategy that the NZ government has followed is just not sustainable, and they need to open up to the world soon, or face a materially lower standard of living.

This must be the lowest daily figure for some time. Numbers are falling all around the country. Well done Japan. Just shows how successful the vaccination program has been.

150m vaccine doses have done the trick it seems. Hopefully this downward trend continues over the next few weeks.

Now at 80 million people with at least 1st dose of the vaccine and 65m with both.

Active cases now half what they were at the peak a few weeks back. Still some way to go but things looking a lot better.

How cool! I love the Shink!

Some very low numbers around the country. A lot of prefectures in single figures for new cases. This is good news, but it is a bit puzzling how infections rocketed up and then seem to have fallen away again so quickly.

Numbers falling across the country. 63M people now fully vaccinated, so expect these numbers to drop further over the coming weeks.