Tokyo, Jan. 6 (BNA): US military bases in Japan imposed stricter measures on COVID-19 on Thursday after the government expressed grave concern over the escalation of new infections and called for restrictions on the movement of American personnel.
Japan is facing what some are calling a sixth wave of coronavirus infections, with cases in some places reaching their highest levels in months. One official blamed the US military for publishing the Omicron version, Reuters reported.
US forces in Japan said that due to an increase in COVID-19 cases at US facilities and across Japan, they are putting in place stricter mitigation measures including requiring US military personnel to wear masks off-base and stricter testing.
“The mitigation measures we have taken … are aimed at protecting the readiness of our forces, the well-being of our families, and the health of Japanese citizens,” the force said in a statement.
“We realize that we all have a role to play in keeping our communities safe.”
There are more than 100,000 US service members, dependents, and contractors in Japan.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi asked US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to restrict US service members to their bases, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.
Matsuno said Japan is “extremely concerned” about Covid infections on US bases.
The southern prefecture of Okinawa, which hosts 70 percent of US military facilities in Japan, is the epicenter of the latest wave of cases in Japan, and on Thursday asked the central government to impose new restrictions, known as quasi-emergency measures, which are likely to include setting hours Operation of restaurants and bars.
Announcing the request, Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki said new cases were expected to rise to 980 on Thursday from 623 the day before.
Tamaki told reporters this week that he was “outraged” at what he described as inadequate infection controls at US bases that allowed the Omicron variant to spread to the public.
Western Hiroshima Prefecture announced that it will also request semi-emergency measures. Various levels of emergency controls were in place across most of Japan last year until it was lifted on September 30.
Japan suspended entry for nearly all foreign travelers in late November after the World Health Organization listed Omicron as a variable of concern.
But the US military is moving personnel in and out under a separate system of testing and quarantine.
The US Marine Corps station in Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, said it discovered 115 new cases on Wednesday, after 182 the previous day.
MI