The United States has agreed to impose stricter Covid-19 measures at its military bases in Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, amid concerns that outbreaks at bases have fuelled infection in local communities.

“We have agreed with the United States in principle that unnecessary outings should be controlled and prohibited, and we are discussing specifics now,” Kishida said during a debating programme at public broadcaster NHK.

Japan reintroduced coronavirus restrictions in three regions that host US military bases, the first such emergency controls since September. Governors of the regions requested the tougher measures after seeing a surge in cases driven by the Omicron variant, according to Reuters.