Japan stops flight bookings despite WHO Omicron travel ban warning
JAPAN suspended all new flight bookings into the country from Wednesday in response to Omicron, ignoring a World Health Organization warning against blanket travel bans as the new coronavirus strain spread further around the world.
Brazil reported the first cases in Latin America of Omicron, which has pushed dozens of countries to impose travel restrictions — mostly targeting southern African nations.
And while the likely futility of such broad curbs was underscored by Dutch authorities reporting that Omicron was present in the country before South Africa reported its first cases on November 25, governments pressed ahead with emergency travel measures.
“We have asked airlines to halt accepting all new incoming flight reservations for one month starting December 1,” a Japanese transport ministry official told AFP, adding that existing bookings would not be affected.
Japan confirmed its first Omicron case on Tuesday, and it had already tightened its tough Covid border measures.
Japanese authorities on Wednesday announced they had detected a second infection of the new strain in an arriving traveller — this time in a person arriving from Peru.
