The COVID-19 crisis is continuing, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned Tuesday, referring to the discovery of the the highly transmissible new Omicron COVID-19 strain spreading across the world.

“We’re still in the midst of the crisis,” Kishida told a meeting of executives of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Kishida reported that in response to the emergence of the new variant, the government has banned entries by foreigners arriving from anywhere in the world in principle.

The ban is a “temporary and unusual measure that will be in place just in case until characteristics of the omicron variant become known to some extent,” he said.

“We’ll explain the tighter border control measure thoroughly so that we can obtain understanding from the public,” he added.

“We aim to take concrete actions to help people regain a sense of safety,” Kishida said, stressing the government’s intention to strengthen the country’s medical care system, administer third shots of COVID-19 vaccines, enhance free coronavirus tests and spread COVID-19 pills.

Kishida requested the LDP to deal with the situation with a sense of tension.

Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Koichi Hagiuda said that related ministers at a meeting Tuesday agreed to make efforts so that economic and social activities, including year-end and New Year events, will not be disrupted.

“There will be no need to restrict domestic economic activities if we can prevent the omicron variant from entering the nation with border control measures,” economic revitalization minister Daishiro Yamagiwa told a news conference.

At a separate press conference, Economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi said that the government hopes to “actively support research and development for vaccines against the omicron variant.”

JIJI Press