Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday that the government will ban the entry of all foreign nationals in principle from Tuesday amid concerns over the new Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Kishida told local media that the decision was made to avoid the worst-case scenario, adding that "It is a temporary measure until information about the Omicron variant becomes clear."

Japan has already suspended the exemption for people who have recently been to any of nine African countries including Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.