The Japanese government had only made it easier for people to enter the country at the beginning of the month. But the island nation is now doing its job again.

Only Israel closed the borders even faster: Japan wants to ban the entry of foreigners from all over the world again because of the spread of the new type of omicron variant of the corona virus. The new entry ban should come into force as early as midnight. The measure is provisionally open-ended. It should initially apply until more detailed information about the new corona mutant is available. Japan had already decided last weekend because of the new virus variant for travelers from South Africa and eight other countries in the region. Accordingly, upon arrival they had to go into a ten-day quarantine in a facility assigned to them by the government.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida justifies the step with the omicron corona mutation. This is the second tightening within a few days. On Friday, Japan stepped up entry controls on people who were last in countries in southern Africa. So far, no omicron cases have been found in travelers. Nevertheless, the government decided to close the borders again.

For the Japanese, entry will again be complicated in the future, because the list of countries that are subject to quarantine is getting longer and longer. The latest decision by the Tokyo government is a major setback for the island nation's airlines. After long restraints, the recovery gradually picked up, but will now suffer a major setback.

Morocco and Israel determined. Of the north african state bans all international flights for at least two weeks. For vacationers, this means that their trips will most likely fall into the water.