At a press conference on Tuesday, Aichi Prefecture Gov. Hideaki Omura announced his intention to request the government to apply emergency-level priority measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Saitama Prefecture was set to decide to make the same request.
In Aichi Prefecture, the number of newly infected people had been hovering in the double digits since the central government lifted its declaration of a state of emergency at the end of February, but in April, the number has exceeded 100 people nearly every day. In the seven days through Monday, the average number of new infections per day was 152. The infection situation is approaching Stage 3, the second most serious level.
Omura said at a press conference that the medical system in the prefecture is not yet under pressure, but added: "Aichi is the next stop from Tokyo and Osaka on the Shinkansen line, so the infections will surely spread to our prefecture. We would like to take preventive measures ahead of the Golden Week holiday period to control the spread of the disease."
Aichi Prefecture is currently asking eating and drinking establishments that serve alcoholic beverages in Nagoya to close by 10 p.m. each night. The specific timing of the application of the priority measures and the scope of the request for shorter hours will be decided in consultation with the central government.
Saitama Gov. Motohiro Ono told the press that "we are now at the stage of considering the transition" to priority measures, after a meeting of prefectural experts held Tuesday night.
Coronavirus variants have been spreading in Saitama Prefecture, and the prefecture will make a formal decision at a meeting of the prefectural task force to be held soon after assessing the infection situation.
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