Japan to ease COVID-19 border controls from Sept. 7

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced plans to ease border controls by eliminating requirements for pre-departure COVID-19 tests for travelers who have received at least three vaccine doses from early September, and he will also consider increasing daily entry caps as soon as next month. Japan, which has imposed some of the toughest border measures for COVID-19, currently requires negative PCR test results within 72 hours of departure to all entrants, a practice that has been criticized as cumbersome. Kishida, after holding virtual meetings with government ministers and medical advisors earlier Wednesday, told reporters that entrants who have received at least one booster vaccine can waive the pre-entry test beginning Sept. 7.