Japan partially reopening borders in March

Japan announced on Thursday that it would be partially reopening its borders in March by increasing the cap on the number of people allowed to enter into the country daily while maintaining that the country would still be closed to tourists.

Beginning on March 1, the number of people allowed to enter the country daily will increase from 3,500 people to 5,000, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced - a move that will benefit business travelers, foreign scholars and exchange students, among others, The Associated Press reported.

Tourists, however, will still be unable to enter the country.

Kishida also said that the seven-day quarantine requirement upon entering into the country will instead be reduced to three days for those with a negative test and booster shot, the AP noted. However, the seven-day requirement will still be in place for those who return a positive COVID-19 test, according to The Washington Post.

Japan has started to see a gradual downward trend of cases in recent days, including reporting just shy of 80,000 cases on Wednesday and more than 63,000 cases the day before, according to data from the World Health Organization. In comparison, cases were topping 100,000 earlier this month.

Data from Johns Hopkins University indicates that close to 80 percent of Japanese residents are fully vaccinated.

The announcement is the first time since November that the country has eased border restrictions. Kishida said that the country would investigate when the tourists could start being welcomed back into the country, but a time frame was not provided by the Japanese prime minister.

"It's not realistic to ease the measures all at once," he said, according to the news wire.