TOKYO: The government is on high alert for a novel coronavirus variant identified in Vietnam, considering strengthening its border controls to prevent it from entering Japan.

The COVID-19 state of emergency entered an extended period in nine prefectures Tuesday. The focus is whether Japan will be able to reduce new infection cases and improve the medical system situation before June 20, when the emergency is now set to expire in the nine prefectures as well as Okinawa Prefecture.

“The government will continue taking countermeasures thoroughly to curb new infections across the country,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told an executive meeting of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Monday.

“The government will continue its support for restaurants and people affected by the state of emergency to protect businesses and jobs,” he added, resolved to do the utmost to shore up the economy.

The emergency, the third of its kind in the country, was previously set to expire on Monday in Hokkaido, Tokyo, Aichi, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Okayama, Hiroshima and Fukuoka.

The government aims to avoid any further extension of the emergency as the Tokyo Olympics will open on July 23, only a month after the currently planned expiration.

The government is vigilant against coronavirus variants believed to be highly contagious after Indian and British strains were found in Japan.

Vietnamese health minister Nguyen Thanh Long has said that the Vietnamese variant is extremely dangerous as it is a hybrid of strains found in Britain and India.

Japan is rushing to collect information and analyze the variant through cooperation with the World Health Organization and others.

At a press conference Monday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said that Japan has not confirmed any domestic case of the Vietnamese variant.

The government has been criticized for failing to tighten border controls quickly enough to prevent the British and Indian variants from entering Japan.

Kato said the government will take necessary countermeasures in a timely way to dispel the public’s concerns.

JIJI Press