China Bans Most Foreign Visitors
HOLMES: Welcome back. China's tough new ban on most foreign visitors kicks in today. The government tries to keep out what they call imported coronavirus cases. Only foreign nationals who were granted visas after March 26th will be allowed entry. Officials say people who traveled into the country from abroad account for all 54 of the new cases reported on Friday. The government reported 3 additional deaths from the disease, by the way, taking the country's death toll to nearly 3300; the official death toll, anyways. CNN's Will Ripley watching developments today, joining me now from Tokyo. An uptick in the number of cases there in Japan. Give us a sense of why that might be?</s>WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think it is a symptom of what we are seeing around the world. As more countries start testing more people, they find more cases. Here in Japan, they're testing a tiny fraction of other countries.</s>RIPLEY: They've only tested 27,000 people in the entire coronavirus crisis as of Friday, compare that with the United States or South Korea, certainly China and you can understand why Japan has a low number of confirmed cases. On the Diamond Princess cruise ship, it's more than 2000 but the government has pointed at that case number for a reason why there's not a need for a state of emergency. Now just after the postponement of the Olympics, the government's tone is drastically changing. They're seeing an uptick in cases, particularly here in Tokyo. And the governor of Tokyo is saying that a lockdown of the city may be necessary in the coming days if they continue to see cases accelerated as they have been.</s>HOLMES: Very quickly, why the change in tone? Is there a sense that perhaps the postponement of the Olympics and the change in tone, perhaps, might be connected?</s>RIPLEY: There are certainly talking Japanese media. Some are speculating that the government wanted to make things look like they were just fine on the ground pre-Olympic postponement and, now all of a sudden, they are striking a much more serious tone. Or it could be a coincidence. It could be a matter of timing. But I do know this, we are hearing more and more cases, parks are starting to close after people were ignoring social distancing guidelines, they were out viewing cherry blossoms earlier this week. Some major department stores are closing, a lot of tourist hot spots are now empty, we are also learning that this is affecting U.S. service members here in Japan as well. At the naval base, it is now in a modified lockdown after 2 sailors tested positive for coronavirus. That makes 3 active duty service members who have tested positive here in Japan.</s>HOLMES: Confined to base. Will, good to see you, thank you so, much Will Ripley, appreciate it. From the dark clouds of the coronavirus outbreak, perhaps a couple of rays of light.</s>HOLMES (voice-over): How this school choir and many others are trying to brighten the day amidst the pandemic. We'll have that when we come back.