Japan and the US have agreed that forces stationed in Japan are not to leave their bases except for essential reasons in an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said yesterday.
His comments came as areas hosting or close to US bases saw some of the largest increases in infections based on population percentages, prompting the government to introduce restrictions in some locations for the first time in months.
Regional governors have blamed the problem partly on US forces.
Photo: AP
“We are extremely concerned,” Kishida told public broadcaster NHK, adding that the issue had been raised at talks between the countries’ ministers of defense and foreign affairs last week.
“The result of discussions is that unnecessary outings will soon be prohibited,” he said. “We’ve reached a broad agreement on that and are working on the details.”
Japan had managed until recently to avoid the kind of surge in COVID-19 cases seen in many Western nations.
Infections in Japan topped 8,400 on Saturday, the highest since September, NHK said.
While low compared with some other nations, Japanese case numbers have climbed more than 10-fold since the start of the year, increasing concerns that a bigger wave is underway.
A semi-emergency begins today in the prefectures of Okinawa, Yamaguchi and Hiroshima, and is set to continue to the end of the month. It allows local governments to place restrictions on businesses.
Okinawa, home to the bulk of US troops in Japan, saw a record 1,759 cases on Saturday, NHK said. Yamaguchi had 154 cases, about half in the city of Iwakuni, which hosts a US Marine base.
Kishida earlier told a Fuji TV program that he would make a decision this week on whether to continue strict border controls introduced in November over the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, under which entry by foreigner visitors is not permitted.
“I want to make a decision after the current holiday,” he said, referring to a three-day weekend for today’s Coming of Age Day. “We have gathered quite a bit of information about the Omicron variant, but there are things we don’t fully understand. We need to confirm those things properly, and until then I want to be extremely cautious.”
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