JAKARTA - Japan will allow international cruise ships to dock at its ports, Transport Minister total Saito said Tuesday, lifting the ban for more than two years imposed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ministry has determined sufficient preparations have been made to receive ships carrying many people, with guidelines made by industry associations to prevent the spread of infection among passengers, according to Kyodo News November 15.
Passengers suspected of being infected need to be tested. Those who have positive results and close contacts are quarantined.
In the event of an outbreak, the ship can continue its operations as long as doctors on board can determine that the virus can be contained, the guidelines said.
However, the ship's cruise schedule will be shortened if more than 10 percent of passengers are infected.
According to the Japan International Cruise Committee, 166 foreign cruise ship visits have been planned from March.
The cessation of international cruise ships has been carried out since March 2020, after infections of coronavirus clusters on the Diamond Princess cruise ship left thousands of people quarantined in Yokohama, near Tokyo a month earlier, leaving 13 of the more than 700 passengers and infected crew dead.
Cruise ship companies will hold discussions with local authorities at stops and seek deals on docking.
All crew members must be vaccinated against the virus three times, while more than 95 percent of passengers must be vaccinated at least twice based on guidelines.
The guidelines were examined by infectious disease specialists and crisis management, then reviewed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism as well as related government agencies.
The Japanese government hopes that the opening of borders for international shipping routes can help restore tourism to pre-pandemic levels by 2025.
In 2019, before the pandemic, about 2.15 million cruise ship passengers visited Japan, spending about 80 billion yen (575 million US dollars), according to the ministry, with 1,932 stoppings carried out by foreign shipping vessels and 934 by domestic companies.
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