JK comments

Recently it has become very clear that negotiations with Russia mean nothing. They say one thing and do the other.

Testing is not important anymore. No point wasting resources to detect mild/asymptomatic cases. We cannot trace and prevent spreading of omicron anymore since it's everywhere and spreads fast. Test only people who need to be hospitalized because of severe symptoms.

Always several steps behind but good decision.

With Omicron there is no point testing everyone. It's waste of resources. It can't be stopped anyways. Test only those who have severe symptoms or need to be hospitalized. Obviously detected cases are just the tip of the iceberg.

Open borders. Border restrictions do not matter since Omicron is already widespread.

Everybody should definitely get vaccinated to prevent serious illness but vaccines do not prevent spreading of covid Omicron variant.

Riding a bike in the snow is perfectly normal but perhaps you shouldn't do it if you are not used to it.

Is there any info whether these are delta or omicron?

So rich people don't transmit covid?

This variant is already everywhere.

Covid-19 is here to stay. How many years will Japan be closed? Better start opening borders already since this is the new normal.

Very small step in the right direction but doesn't help much. Eventually we have to continue our lives. Covid is not going anywhere. In my opinion all restrictions should lifted after everyone has had the opportunity to get two doses of vaccination

EU countries decide on their own so this is more like advice. Check the country specific regulations. Many allow fully vaccinated to enter without any restrictions.

By the end of the year we should have such a good vaccination coverage that all restrictions should be dropped.

How about electing a young woman as a leader?

Mixing vaccines has and is being done in Europe. There should be plenty of data available. To my knowledge it might be even boost the Immunity.

Why they have to request it? Simply give it automatically.

After full vaccination risk of serious infection is low. When all people have been offered a jab all restrictions should be lifted. I'm not sure if UK is there yet though.

I hope that none of the EU nations does not make a deal unless Japan accepts EU vaccine passport. There are many EU countries with far better covid situation and vaccinated people from these countries are not a threat. Travelling should be opened both ways.

I don't live in Japan so it's difficult to know exactly what's going on there but I find it strange that on the other hand vaccination seems to lacking but still my 70+ parents in law without significant comorbidity simply booked and got their covid-19 jabs from their local doctor several weeks ago. So at least in some places vaccination seems to proceed relatively smoothly.

Think how many lives would have been saved If these shots had been used in Japan or sent somewhere like India.

People wouldn't be so hesitant if the government didn't hesitate so much.

Doctor are not needed for vaccinations. Nurses can handle it. Actually sticking a needle to muscle is so easy that almost anybody can do it with a little practise. Obviously there needs to be a team that can handle rare side effects, allergies etc.

That's not a surprise. It's likely that these variants were already widely spread globally before they were initially detected. Especially in Japan there are loads of undetected covid-19 cases judging by high positive test rate.

Arts and culture are important when times are difficult but still I would rather buy more PCR tests than build a straw gorilla.

People are working overtime. They don't have time to take covid-19 test.

So few tests again?

It is sad what happened with HPV. So many will suffer cervical cancer which could be easily prevented with vaccination. Fake science won.

Fair enough but start really testing domestically also. Virus is in already and needs to be rooted out.

So 35% of tested positive. Tokyo is likely detecting only small part of positive cases.

In my homecountry the officials are worried because during holidays people did not seek tests and proportion of positive test went up 2%-3%

It's illogical to close the borders if one does not even try to detect and contain the cases already in.