Coronavirus: Japan extends travel ban to over 70 countries ; includes US, UK and China

In a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country, Japan has decided to ban people having recent travel history to any of the over 70 countries including US, UK and China.

The ban is applicable over those who have visited the listed nations or regions in the last 14 days.

The new rules kick in for arrivals as of Friday, even for those whose flight departs before April 3, in view of the rising number of coronavirus cases in its major cities, CNN reported.

However, no end date to the travel restriction was announced.

This comes after the Olympics was postponed last week, by a year, for the first time in the history of the mega global event. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had also agreed to reschedule of the Tokyo Olympics in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As per the data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University, Japan has so far seen 2,617 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 63 deaths. 2,082 case is still active, while 472 people have recovered.

The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11.

The global tally of the total number of people infected by coronavirus as of Friday crossed 1,000,000 and the death toll from the disease exceeded 50,000, as per the data provided by Johns Hopkins University.