Shigeru Omi, chairman of the government's coronavirus task force, and Yasutoshi Nishimura, minister in charge of economic revitalization, held an extraordinary press conference Monday night to clarify the status of the virus outbreak after the "critical three weeks" in which the government called for intensive countermeasures.
The task force set up three categories of possible scenarios after the three-week period: (1) areas where infections are decreasing; (2) areas where infections remain high; and (3) areas where infections continue to spread.
Omi pointed out that Tokyo and other parts of the Tokyo metropolitan area fall into the category of where the spread of infections is continuing, where countermeasures should be strengthened the most. Although the situation is not such that a state of emergency should be declared, he urged people to refrain from attending year-end and New Year's parties and to consider postponing trips to their hometowns, saying, "We need to take stronger measures, including reducing human travel and contact."
In Tokyo, the proportion of people whose route of infection is unknown, among confirmed infections, has risen to 60%, and many of them are thought to have been infected at restaurants.
Osaka Prefecture and Nagoya, on the other hand, fall into the category of areas where infection cases have remained high. "The effects of the measures taken so far are gradually beginning to be seen, and we hope that measures will continue to be thoroughly implemented," Omi said.
Hokkaido was assessed as having decreasing infection cases, as the outbreak is slowing down there.
Nishimura said, "We share a strong sense of urgency," and stressed his intention to work together with the Tokyo metropolitan government and other prefectures to improve the effectiveness of the request to shorten business hours.
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