Tuesday marked two weeks since a state of emergency was declared following a surge in the number of people known to be infected with the new coronavirus. At least until the declaration expires on May 6, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is required to handle the difficult tasks of seeking an exit from the current situation while putting all-out effort into containing infections.
At a press conference Monday, Economic Revitalization Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is responsible for matters related to the new coronavirus, commented on the fact that parks in the Tohoku region were crowded with people going out to see cherry blossoms on April 11. He warned, "It was before the state of emergency declaration was extended nationwide and I recognize that it was also cherry blossom season. However, if such a situation continues, people could flock to tourist sites and the number of new infection cases would increase as a result."
"Cherry blossoms" have been seen by some as a cause for anti-infection measures to be relaxed.
On March 20, the government's Novel Coronavirus Response Headquarters decided not to extend its request to close all elementary, junior high and other schools across the nation. Partly due to that decision, an increasing number of people went out to see cherry blossoms and for other purposes, mainly in Tokyo, on the three-day weekend from March 20 to 22. This is believed to have led to the increase in the number of infections.
Concerning the current status of infections, a senior government official said: "The pace of increase in the number of infections is slowing down and new infection cases have peaked. However, it is quite difficult to decide whether to extend the state of emergency declaration or lift it."
Even though the pace of increase in the number of new infection cases is slowing down, it could speed up again after the government stops asking people to refrain from nonessential outings and takes other measures. Abe extended the state of emergency declaration to include the entire nation before the start of the Golden Week holiday period in order to avoid a recurrence of people going out as seen during the three-day weekend in March.
Concerning the state of emergency declaration, a senior official at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry emphasized that it is impossible to lift the declaration nationwide altogether, and that careful measures need to be taken for each prefecture.
There is a plan for the timing of the lifting the declaration to differ between the 13 prefectures including Tokyo that were designated as "special alert prefectures" where the status of infections is serious and the remaining 34 prefectures.
In the 13 special alert prefectures, there are moves anticipating an extension of the state of emergency declaration.
Exercising authority granted after the issuance of the state of emergency declaration under the revised law on special measures against new strains of influenza, the Kanagawa prefectural government plans to open a temporary medical facility in early May so that hospital beds can be secured. The facility will be a prefabricated building to be set up on the grounds of a research institute straddling the municipal border of Fujisawa and Kamakura, both in the prefecture. In principle, the facility can be used as a medical facility only while the declaration is in effect.
In addition, some government officials say that even if the declaration is lifted, it will be difficult to resume usual social and economic activities all at once, with a senior official at the Cabinet Secretariat saying, "We should discuss easing restrictions on people's movements in a phased manner, as the United States and European countries do." The government, which currently has goals of reducing person-to-person contact by 80% and the number of commuters by 70%, is now considering relaxing those goals to a certain extent at first and then allowing small-scale meetings and business operations of restaurants under conditions such as ensuring sufficient distance between people.
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