Saturday marked the beginning of the first weekend after the government's extension of the state of emergency to the end of this month, and Economic Revitalization Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura warned people, via a press conference held that day, that people were "becoming lax in their precautions against the coronavirus."
Nishimura's statement was in regard to an increasing number of people visiting shopping and entertainment districts in the nation after the end of the long Golden Week holiday period.
The minister urged those within the 13 prefectures on special alert to continue to refrain from unnecessarily leaving their homes in order to curb the further spread of infections.
"If people let their guards down [against the virus], our efforts to settle the situation by the end of this month [when the state of emergency is scheduled to be lifted] may end up being in vain," said Nishimura. "The number [of infected people] could end up being higher after two weeks, around on May 23."
Within the 13 designated prefectures where countermeasures have been tightened against the coronavirus, there were several places that stood out as the number of visitors increased on Saturday. In Shinjuku, Tokyo, many people were seen in the shopping district, seemingly visiting shops that had reopened over the weekend.
According to a mobile spatial statistics report compiled by NTT Docomo Inc., the number of people in Shinjuku Station when compared to the data collected between Jan. 18 and Feb. 14, prior to the nation's coronavirus outbreak, had decreased by 74.9% Saturday, while Wednesday, the last day of the Golden Week period, there was a decrease of 82.3%.
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