Japan lowers COVID-19 travel alert for 54 countries, 1 region

Japan on Wednesday lowered its COVID-19 travel alert for 54 countries and one region, with its advisery for travel to those areas being lowered to Level 1 on the country's four-tier scale.

The eased alert by the foreign ministry now advises Japanese nationals traveling to those regions to "stay fully alert" compared to its previous request that residents refrain from taking nonessential trips to those nations.

A Level 2 warning is still in place for 35 areas, with adviseries for 41 nations lowered from Level 3 of "avoid all travel" to Level 2, the ministry said.

Seventy other nations and areas including China, South Korea, India, the United States, Britain, France and Germany are already categorized as Level 1.

Currently, there are no nations or areas covered by Level 3 or 4 warnings, the ministry said.