Aerial view of Tokyo. (Image via Departures)

Suga to decide on Tokyo's state of emergency extension on Friday

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshihide Suga, announced that the Japanese Government is thinking about extending the state of emergency over the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Suga thought that it would be better to extend the state of emergency in Tokyo for two weeks since the situation has not alleviated yet and the health care system in the capital is burdened still. The Prime Minister will announce his final verdict on Friday. For the decision, Suga is consulting with the experts and other prefectural leaders.

On 7 January, Suga's administration announced the state of emergency in Tokyo and its three vicinities, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba, for one month. The state of emergency asks restaurants, bars, and other leisure businesses to curb their operating hours to 8 p.m., people to refrain from going out unless for essential reasons, companies to telework, and major events to cap their attendance.

However, the state of emergency was extended to 7 March and also reissued to 10 other prefectures. While the state of emergency for Tokyo and its three vicinities remains, the state of emergency for the other prefectures had been lifted last week in an effort to resume business as soon as possible.

Moreover, Tokyo is supposedly set to become the host for the Summer Olympics, previously postponed in 2020 due to COVID-19. The 2021 Summer Olympics in Japan still maintains the same date, 23 July.

While Japan has not locked itself down, the state of emergency helped the third-largest economy control the COVID-19 infection. Yet, the Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, together with other heads of the neighboring prefectures are worried that if the state of emergency is lifted, then the COVID-19 infection will spike again. On Wednesday, Tokyo reported 316 fresh COVID-19 cases, increasing by 84 cases compared to 232 on Tuesday and totaling 112,345 cases.

Source: https://cutt.ly/5l4PjMd