Japan's Kishida lays out new contingency plan against Omicron risk

Japan will gear up efforts to deal with a possible surge in Omicron coronavirus cases and aim to deliver oral treatment using Pfizer Inc's drugs nationwide next month, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday.

Kishida also said the government will decide next week whether to extend border controls, which he described as having successfully prevented infection numbers from spiking.

"We'll prepare to shift the focus of Japan's Omicron response to domestic measures to guard against the worst-case scenario of a possible spike in community transmissions," Kishida told a news conference.

Aside from antiviral pills developed by Merck & Co Inc already delivered