Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has vowed to speed up coronavirus vaccine booster shots, secure imported supplies of drugs to treat Covid-19 and reorganise medical facilities to respond to the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

Kishida, who took office in October, said he had ordered strict border controls from November to buy time for such preparations. Japan has basically shut out incoming travel except for returning residents and Japanese nationals.

The response to the contagious Omicron variant will now shift to domestic measures, such as making free coronavirus tests more readily available, while border controls will continue, he said.

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