The government plans to call on all citizens of the nation to refrain from using restaurants and other places that serve customers, such as cabarets and night clubs, as a preventive measure against the spread of the new coronavirus, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
The move is designed to completely prevent clusters of infections from erupting at nightlife spots.
The request will be added to a basic policy for combating the COVID-19 outbreak at the central government's basic policy advisory board, before a meeting of the government's headquarters. The policy defines measures that are called for on the part of local governments to fight the disease.
The current policy says that citizens should be urged to refrain from going to such establishments only in seven prefectures where a state of emergency has been declared, including Tokyo. The policy will be revised to call on citizens in the other 40 prefectures not go to such restaurants, thus making the request nationwide.
The Tokyo metropolitan government requested cabarets and other facilities to close from Saturday.
In contrast, the central government judged that the spread of the disease could be exacerbated if the employees infected with the virus at those restaurants go to rural areas to find work.
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