Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura said Monday he would ask the central government to temporarily exclude Osaka City from the Go To Travel tourism promotion campaign from Friday.
Under the government's policy of granting prefectures temporary suspensions due to the coronavirus pandemic, Yoshimura talked about the plan in a TV program broadcast by Yomiuri Telecasting Corp.
"[The travel campaign] clearly has an economic effect and I don't intend to deny it. But now the number of [coronavirus] cases is on the increase and I want to ask [the central government] to temporarily exclude Osaka [City] from it," Yoshimura said on the program.
In Osaka Prefecture, a one-day record of 490 new cases was confirmed on Sunday, followed the next day by 281 cases -- the largest number for a Monday.
Hokkaido Gov. Naomichi Suzuki also expressed his decision to temporarily exclude Sapporo from the tourism campaign, saying at a press conference on Monday that he made the decision "in light of the severe infection situation and the burden on the medical system."
The Hokkaido government is considering a Go To suspension lasting about three weeks, which was proposed by the central government's subcommittee on new coronavirus measures.
Under the government's policy, prefectural governors first determine whether places should be excluded from the tourism campaign, and the central government subsequently makes the final decision.
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