A government panel of experts studying measures to combat the new coronavirus listed three main criteria it considered for lifting the state of emergency, in a meeting on Thursday. First, the panel looked at the status of infections. Next, they looked at the status of medical supplies. Last, they looked at the situation for testing for the virus.
The goal for the spread of infections is 0.5 cases or less per 100,000 people over the course of one week. The situation Tokyo faced in the middle of March served as a reference for this formula. At that time, officials were able to track the spread of infections even in Tokyo and there were about 10 people confirmed to be infected per day.
Other factors were used in addition to this criterion. Of 13 prefectures that were under special alert, in the week leading to May 12, seven of these prefectures exceeded the 0.5-case ratio. Of the seven, Hokkaido and Tokyo will remain under a state of emergency while Ishikawa Prefecture saw its state of emergency lifted. Toyama Prefecture, which was not under special alert, had its state of emergency lifted even with a 1.054-case ratio. Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures saw cluster outbreaks in certain establishments, but both prefectures were seen as having enough beds in their hospitals, thus leading to their states of emergency being lifted.
Chiba and Hyogo prefectures, meanwhile, are below the 0.5 cases ratio, but their states of emergency were not lifted.
Those two prefectures each neighbor a metropolis and are deeply interconnected to it, Takaji Wakita, who heads the experts' panel and is director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, reportedly explained.
At a meeting of the advisory committee convened following the meeting of the panel, Ehime Prefecture had its state of emergency lifted, though with conditions attached. There was a cluster outbreak discovered at a hospital in the prefecture on Wednesday, and the government is asking for more information, with the possibility of instating another state of emergency, according to a member of the committee. This will be determined based on how many cases within a week are untraceable and how many people are hospitalized in the course of one week.
Nationwide, 608 cases of infection with the virus were confirmed in the week leading to Tuesday, less than one-sixth the figure seen a month before. At the same time, however, there have been consistent reports of new cases.
"Ehime Prefecture suddenly had [the cluster outbreak] happen and dealt with the huge commotion that caused, and we don't actually know when something like that could happen elsewhere in the nation," another committee member said.
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