Tokyo, Jan 6 (TIWN) As Covid-19 cases, including those connected to US bases, were surging in Okinawa, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Thursday requested the American bases in the country impose a curfew amid the rampant spread of the virus among military personnel.

According to the foreign ministry, Hayashi's request was made by telephone to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, with Hayashi reportedly telling Blinken that further measures need to be taken by the U.S. side to prevent the virus from spreading at U.S. military facilities in Japan and further into the community.  The Japanese side has been irked by the U.S. lax approach to administering its military personnel with COVID-19 tests before and after arriving in Japan, leading to a spike in cases and cluster infections at multiple U.S. bases here.  At the Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, a U.S. Marine Corps air station located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, south of Hiroshima, 182 personnel were confirmed to be infected on Wednesday, official figures showed.  The mayor of Iwakuni said the cluster outbreak at the base was "fueling the rapid spread of (the) Omicron (variant of the virus) in his city." 

"We've heard that the genome of the coronavirus from the base workers and those who tested positive at restaurants in the city is the same. It's highly likely that the Omicron variant has spread from the base throughout the city," Iwakuni Mayor Yoshihiko Fukuda was quoted as saying.  Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, where the vast majority of U.S. bases are located in Japan, meanwhile, confirmed 623 new cases on Wednesday, more than doubling its daily tally compared to the previous day.