Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday announced plans to gradually resume social and economic activities in conjunction with the extension of the state of emergency amid the ongoing coronavirus epidemic.
Meanwhile, central and local governments are grappling with the challenge of softening the stress of the public caused by the stay-at-home request and the blow to the economy, while responding vigilantly to contain the spread of infections of the novel coronavirus.
A clear exit strategy toward the lifting of the emergency declaration is yet to be drawn.
"We must create, as soon as possible, a new normal in our daily lives in this coronavirus era. We want to move forward step by step toward the exit and beyond the current state of emergency," Abe said at a press conference on Monday, stressing the importance of balancing infection prevention measures, and social and economic activities.
The prime minister apparently mulled lifting the declaration in some regions ahead of others.
"The situation in the medical field is so severe that we have no choice but to extend the period, but I think it's viable to have some regions with the declaration lifted before," Abe reportedly told his aides.
There are strong concerns within the government about the suspension of businesses and calls for people to avoid going out. "If this situation lasts too long, there will be a spate of coronavirus bankruptcies, throwing the Japanese economy into an irrecoverable state," a key Cabinet member said.
As schools have remained closed since March, there are also concerns over the effect delays in education will have on students.
"If this situation continues, our lives will come to a standstill," the prime minister said, reflecting a sense of the crisis in which the nation finds itself.
The focus of an interim assessment that Abe has pledged to implement as early as May 14 will likely serve as criteria for lifting the emergency declaration.
Yasutoshi Nishimura, minister of state for economic and fiscal policy, said at Monday's meeting of the House of Councillors' Committee on Rules and Administration that the government "will make an overall assessment" on the situation, based on the following points:
-- The number of newly infected patients in the past two to three weeks
-- The percentage of unknown infection paths
-- The capability of providing medical services, including testing
-- Situations in neighboring prefectures
"By May 14, the result of calls to restrict activities during the Golden Week holiday period should be reflected [in the number of new infections]. There are more regions reporting no new infections, so the government will probably draw a line at some point," a cabinet minister said.
Meanwhile, the local governments in Tokyo and Osaka have taken moves toward exiting from the emergency period at their own discretion.
Regarding measures for business operators, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike on Monday told reporters, "Measures differ depending on industries. We'd like to also make economic decisions while listening to the opinions of people engaged in those industries."
The Tokyo metropolitan government announced Tuesday measures including whether to lift business suspension requests and school closures. The Osaka prefectural government also announced its own criteria on Tuesday to decide whether to end calls for citizens to stay home and businesses to suspend operations.
However, there is a possibility that the infection will spread again after measures are eased.
"We must be well prepared for the risk of a future outbreak. We have a month to fortify our defense," Abe said at the press conference.
A government panel of experts studying measures to combat the new coronavirus on Monday released a report on the situation.
Although the number of new infections has decreased nationwide, the panel expressed caution: "The rate of decline been below expectations."
The nationwide number of new infections in the week from April 26 fell to 1,630, from 3,620 reported in the week from April 12.
However, the cumulative number of infected cases as of Saturday approached 15,000, placing a continuous burden on hospitals that are treating patients.
The number of new infections has remained high in Tokyo, Hokkaido, Osaka, and Kanagawa -- all designated as being on special alert -- exceeding 100 cases in each prefecture in the past week.
The panel decided to keep Aichi and Gifu on the list of prefectures on special alert despite the decreasing number of new infections, citing that "infected patients require long hospital stays, thus a burden on medical institutions in these areas is expected to continue for a while."
In the remaining 34 prefectures in the nation, there have been no confirmed cases of new infections for more than two weeks in Iwate, Akita, Tottori, Nagasaki and Miyazaki, indicating that the virus spread has eased.
Although the cumulative number of infections per 100,000 residents in Toyoma Prefecture is close to that of Ishikawa Prefecture, a special-alert prefecture, the panel decided not to add Toyama to the special-alert list as the number of patients whose infection paths are unknown is relatively low.
The panel plans to release the results of its regional analysis in a week or two.
"It'll be a huge task to reimplement all of the measures if there's another outbreak. We just need the public to endure this [situation] for a little while longer," said Nobuhiko Okabe, director general of the Kawasaki City Institute for Public Health in Kanagawa Prefecture.
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