The government has also reduced the maximum number of entries each from 5,000 to 3,500 persons. At this time, there has been no announcement that the Omicron variant has been detected in Japan. November 29 2021: in response to concern over the increased virulence of the new ‘Omicron’ variant, first detected in South Africa, Japan has announced stricter entry controls for the following southern African nations: Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.