The state Department of Health has approved a testing plan by the Japanese government that will allow travelers from Japan to bypass the mandatory 14-day quarantine upon arrival in Hawaii.
Visitors from Japan can skip the quarantine if they get a negative COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Amplification Test, or NAAT, authorized by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
The DOH is currently in discussions with various Japanese medical institutions as it secures a list of trusted testing partners in Japan, the DOH said in a statement this afternoon.
Once the list is established and the pre-travel program is launched for Japan, travelers from that country will have the option to take the NAAT test from a trusted partner 72 hours prior to their departure for Hawaii. They would be required to show proof of a negative test result upon arrival in order to bypass the 14-day quarantine.
Additionally, the state “looks forward to working collaboratively with all levels of the Japanese government to identify trusted testing partners and to make this pre-travel testing program a success,” the DOH said.
As soon as Japan’s trusted testing partners are confirmed, the information will be posted on the Hawaii COVID-19 information website – hawaiicovid19.com.
Japanese nationals traveling abroad are still subject to a 14-day quarantine upon their return to the country.
Travel restrictions on U.S. travel into Japan still remain in place.
The state is set to begin its pre-travel testing program for U.S. mainland travelers tomorrow, Oct. 15.