Japan keeps border controls as it prepares for omicron surge
The Hindu
Japan PM Fumio Kishida said the stringent border controls have helped slow the variant’s spread and “bought time” to prepare for an imminent surge.
Japan will keep its borders closed to most foreign citizens through February as it attempts to accelerate booster shots for elderly people and expand hospital capacity to cope with the rapidly spreading omicron variant, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday.
Japan briefly eased border controls in November after cases rapidly declined, but quickly reinstated a ban on most foreign entrants after the highly transmissible new variant emerged.

On December 23, the newly elected office bearers of the Anna Nagar Towers Club, led by its president ‘Purasai’ B. Ranganathan, who is a former MLA, met with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin and conveyed their greetings. According to a press release, besides, ‘Purasai’ B. Ranganathan, the Anna Nagar Towers Club delegation that met Stalin at Anna Arivalayam, the DMK Party headquarters, included vice-president R. Sivakumar, secretary R. Muralibabu, joint secretary D. Manojkumar, treasurer K. Jayachandran and executive committee members N. D. Avinash, K. Kumar, N. R. Madhurakavi, K. Mohan, U. Niranjan, S. Parthasarathi, K. Rajasekar, S. Rajasekar, M. S. Ramesh, R. Satheesh, N. C. Venkatesan and K. Yuvaraj. Karthik Mohan, deputy secretary of DMK’s Information Technology Wing, was present on the occasion.












