Travel Ban Extensions and More To Come

The existence and discovery of new variants of Covid-19 combined with rising cases in several countries meant that restrictions were extended and increased.  Already existing travel bans in the Philippines will now be in place until 31 January.  Hong Kong has revised its travel ban to include arrivals from Ireland and Brazil.  The business track between Japan and Korea has been placed on hold until further notice.

We anticipate more changes, prompted by the arriving Lunar New Year which runs from11 – 17 of February and ushers in the Year of the Ox.  Last year, travel bans were put into place and planned festivities were cancelled across Asia.  This year seems to be a bit different with strong discouragement of travel replacing outright bans and altered events instead of cancellations.   Because the worlds biggest, annual migration happens during this holiday we are hearing a lot of chatter about further movement restrictions both domestic and international.  China has already put measures in place and other countries including Japan are considering changing the expiration date of recent, more restrictive border controls until after the traditional holiday travel period ends.

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