Japan Applies TB Examination Before Arrival For Foreigners

JAKARTA - Japan began imposing mandatory pre-arrival tuberculosis (TBC) checks on Monday for people planning to stay for more than three months, starting with those from the Philippines and Nepal, a government official said.

The number of foreign nationals diagnosed with infectious diseases while in Japan continues to increase, and most of them consist of people from the six countries, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, quoted from Kyodo News June 23.

The screening requirements will initially apply to citizens who usually live in the Philippines and Nepal, and plan to stay in Japan for a medium or long term.

They will be required to provide evidence of not being infected with TB before their arrival or will be denied entry.

While TB can be cured and prevented, the disease has killed about 1.25 million people by 2023 and will most likely return to the world's deadliest infectious disease after being taken over by COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Vietnam is expected to be added to the list in September, with Indonesia, Myanmar and China following.

In Japan, the number of tuberculosis patients fell below 10 per 100,000 people for the first time in 2021, reaching 9.2 and placing the country in the WHO's low-incident category. This figure further decreased to 8.1 in 2023, according to data from the Japanese Ministry of Health.