Khaldon Azhari

Tokyo’s Narita International Airport has been hit hard by the decreasing number of passengers and flights due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The official data shows the number of passengers dropped from 3.9 million in January to 1.3 million in March (preliminary figures).

International travelers dropped sharply from 3.2 million to 0.8 million. According to local media, the biggest decline was the route (to and from) South Korea with a decrease of 92.5%.

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It is followed by Taiwan (92.2%), Hong Kong (89%) and China (86.9%).

There was a big decrease in travel numbers from other Asian and Middle Eastern countries too where it dipped to 64.7%.

The trend will continue to remain for May following the announcement by Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Tuesday raising the total number of foreign jurisdictions subject to Japan's entry ban related to the coronavirus outbreak by 13 to 100 including one region.

The 13 countries to be added to the entry ban list includes Mexico, Maldives, Colombia, Kazakhstan and Equatorial Guinea. The Foreign Ministry raised its travel alert to Level 3 for these countries the same day, urging citizens not to visit them.