Japan to retain virus restrictions easing despite Omicron spread

TOKYO, Dec. 23 Kyodo - Japan will not immediately retighten restrictions on people's activities after seeing its first case of community transmission of the Omicron coronavirus variant, as the government has taken full-fledged measures against it, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Thursday. "At the moment, we are not thinking about making any change to the eased restrictions on people's activities, but we plan to respond speedily by working with municipalities and experts by taking infection situations into account," the top government spokesman told a regular press conference. Osaka Prefecture reported on Wednesday that three family members with no history of overseas travel have been found to be infected with the new variant through unknown routes. Amid growing uncertainties about the variant, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his government has been fully prepared for the spread of the strain. "Using the time we bought through strengthened border control (since late November), we have accelerated efforts to enhance the process of prevention, testing and early treatment," Kishida said at a gathering in Tokyo. Japan banned new entries by foreigners globally from Nov. 30, and the measure will continue at least until early next year as Tokyo seeks to gain more information about the new variant. Kishida also said he has led efforts to secure enough hospital beds for COVID-19 patients as well as hotel rooms for those found infected with the virus and strengthened cooperation among medical institutions. In the community transmission case, the three family members -- a male elementary school teacher, a woman in her 30s and a girl under 10 years old -- were admitted to hospital after developing mild symptoms such as fever between Saturday and Monday, the prefectural government said. After the first Omicron case was confirmed in Japan on Nov. 30 -- a man who arrived from Namibia -- total infections with the new variant nationwide had reached 160 as of Wednesday. But health minister Shigeyuki Goto said the same day he does not believe the variant has become widespread across the country "at this point." ==Kyodo