Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said today, Thursday, that Japan does not intend to immediately tighten restrictions on various activities, even after the first case of community transmission of the Omicron mutant of the Coronavirus (known also as COVID-19) was recorded.
Matsuno affirmed that the government is taking full measures against the newly-emerged mutant.
"Currently, we are not considering making any change in the restrictions imposed on people's activities, but we plan to respond quickly by working with municipalities and experts to take a stand," Kyodo News quoted the Japanese government's chief spokesperson at a press conference as saying that infection and the epidemiological situation will be taken into account.
Yesterday, Osaka Prefecture announced the first case of community transmission of the Omicron strain of three members of the same family with no travel history abroad.
Today, Thursday, the Japanese government said that US forces in Japan did not test its personnel for infection with the emerging coronavirus "COVID-19" when they left for the United States, in contravention of Tokyo's request to follow safety and border control procedures.
And a government official said, in exclusive statements carried by the Japanese Kyodo News Agency on its official website, that the entire US forces in Japan did not conduct "PCR" tests on their personnel before departure, but later confirmed that it was still being checked whether this was done on all US troops or not.
This came after the detection of a mass infection at Camp Hansen of the US Marine Corps in the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa earlier this month.
Amid growing uncertainty around Omicron, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his government was fully prepared for the spread of the new strain.
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