TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan has found its first suspected instance of community spread infection from the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the governor of Osaka prefecture said on Wednesday.

       Three cases in the prefecture of Osaka were determined to be the Omicron variant but the infection route was not clear and they did not travel abroad, Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura told a coronavirus policy meeting.

       "I believe this counts as a case of community transfer. I think this will become the first in Osaka prefecture, and the first in the country," Yoshimura said.

       As Omicron fears grow, the world's third-largest economy has tightened up border restrictions and promised to speed up booster shots.

       Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday said its COVID-19 border controls, some of the strictest in the world, would remain in place for the time being.

       (Reporting by Ju-min Park and Sakura Murakami; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Gerry Doyle)