Hokkaido has decided to temporarily exclude Sapporo, where the novel coronavirus is spreading, from the Go To Travel tourism promotion campaign.
The central government is expected to respect the Hokkaido authorities' wishes and exclude the city from the campaign. It will carefully evaluate whether other municipalities need to suspend Go To Travel as well.
Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister in charge of economic revitalization, said on an NHK program Sunday, "We will determine a direction in the next few days and respond to the situation in cooperation with governors of prefectures where the spread has increased."
The government is expected to cover the cancellation fees resulting from the suspension.
Under the government's policy of temporary suspension, decided on Saturday, prefectural governors will first make a decision, followed by a final determination by the central government.
The Hokkaido government will consult with the city of Sapporo on Monday to convey its intentions. According to Hokkaido officials, the suspension is expected to go into force as early as this Thursday and continue through early December.
The number of newly confirmed infections per day in Sapporo reached a record 197 last Thursday and remained high on Sunday at 154, or 63% of the prefecture's total. The prefecture has deemed it appropriate to suspend the campaign due to concerns about its medical system.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's advisory body warned that Tokyo, Osaka and Aichi prefectures could also see a rapid spread of infections. The government's subcommittee on countermeasures against the novel coronavirus said the second most serious stage of the four stages of the infection situation, Stage 3, will be the benchmark for determining whether to suspend the Go To Travel campaign.
Although the government will respect the decision of each governor, it wants to keep the number of regions affected to a minimum because if suspension of the campaign spreads, the economy will be hit hard again.
The subcommittee has proposed a suspension period of about three weeks.
Kamon Iizumi, the governor of Tokushima Prefecture and chairman of the National Governors' Association, said on an NHK program on Sunday, "We may choose to remove Sapporo in Hokkaido, and Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture, for example."
Nishimura said to reporters in Tokyo on the same day, "We haven't received any reports of the infection spreading in the spectator areas of professional baseball games, but if the virus spreads throughout Japan, there will be certain restrictions on the holding of events."
The limit on the number of people at large events is currently up to 50% of capacity, but Nishimura indicated that the limit may be tightened.
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