US troops in Japan to limit movement on Covid

Bloomberg

Japan and the US have agreed that US forces stationed in Japan won’t leave their bases except for essential reasons in an effort to stem the spread of Covid-19 cases, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Sunday.
His comments came as areas hosting or close to U.S. bases saw some of the biggest increases in infections on a per head of population basis, prompting the government to introduce restrictions for the first time in months in some localities. Regional governors have blamed the problem at least in part on US forces.
“We are extremely concerned,” Kishida told public broadcaster NHK, adding that the issue had been raised at talks between the foreign and defense ministers of the two countries last week. “The result of discussions is that unnecessary outings will soon be prohibited. We’ve reached a broad agreement on that and are working on the details.”
Japan had managed until recently to avoid the kind of surge in Covid-19 cases seen in many Western nations. Infections in Japan topped 8,400 on Saturday, their highest since September, according to NHK. While low compared with some other nations, Japanese case numbers have climbed more than 10-fold since the start of the year, increasing concerns that a bigger wave is underway.
A quasi emergency begins today in the prefectures of Okinawa, Yamaguchi and Hiroshima, and is set to continue to the end of the month. It will allow local governments to place restrictions on businesses.
Okinawa, which is home to the bulk of US troops in Japan, saw a record 1, 759 cases on Saturday, NHK reported. Yamaguchi saw 154 cases, about half of them in the city of Iwakuni, which hosts a US Marine base.
Kishida earlier told a Fuji TV program that he would make a decision this week on whether to continue strict border controls introduced in November over the Omicron variant, under which new entry by foreigners is not permitted.
“I want to make a decision after the current holiday,” he said, referring to a three-day weekend for the January 10 Coming of Age day holiday.