The government on Friday evening will formally announce its decision to extend the coronavirus state of emergency currently in effect in Tokyo and three other prefectures until the end of May, and expand the emergency declaration to include Aichi and Fukuoka prefectures from May 12.
The state of emergency for Tokyo Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures was scheduled to end on May 11.
On Friday morning, the government presented its proposal to extend the emergency to the subcommittee on the basic policy to counter the pandemic.
Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister in charge of the nation's coronavirus response, said at the subcommittee meeting that Osaka and Hyogo are in an extremely critical situation in terms of hospital bed capacity. He also stressed that the state of emergency should be extended to "firmly control infections," otherwise Tokyo "could end up like Osaka," where infections have been rampant.
Nishimura expressed concern that the number of new cases in Aichi and Fukuoka has increased and that medical facilities are under strain due to hospital bed capacity. He also said, "We want to swiftly strengthen border measures" to prevent an influx of the virus variant prevalent in India.
The government will adjust measures in line with the state of emergency extension. According to the plan presented to the subcommittee, the request for business suspensions will be partially revised to cover not only restaurants that serve alcohol and karaoke parlors, but also establishments where customers can bring their own alcoholic drinks. Restaurants will be allowed to stay open until 8 p.m. if they do not serve alcohol.
In areas under the state of emergency, department stores and other large commercial facilities are currently being asked to close, except for those selling daily necessities. They will be allowed to stay open until 8 p.m. during the extended emergency period.
Large-scale events such as sports fixtures, which have been held without spectators in principle, will be allowed to welcome spectators as long as attendance is less than 5,000 and less than 50% of venue capacity. Organizers will be asked to ensure events end no later than 9 p.m.
The government will strongly urge people to refrain from drinking alcohol in groups on streets or in parks, as this may increase the risk of infection.
To reduce the flow of people, companies will be asked to continue to reduce the number of employees coming to work by 70%. Economic organizations will be called upon to promote the spread of telework, among other measures being implemented by companies.
Also, simple kits for antigen testing will be distributed to up to 8 million people by the middle of this month as part of efforts to prevent the spread of infections in medical institutions and facilities for the elderly.
In line with the state of emergency extension, the period of emergency-level priority measures will also be extended until the end of May.
Municipalities in Hokkaido and the prefectures of Gifu and Mie will be added to the list of areas under priority measures from May 9. Sapporo in Hokkaido, Gifu and Ogaki in Gifu Prefecture, and Yokkaichi and Kuwana in Mie Prefecture are expected to be added.
Priority measures will end in Miyagi Prefecture on May 11, as scheduled.
This will bring the total number of prefectures under priority measures to eight, including the five prefectures of Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Ehime, and Okinawa.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
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