SAPPORO -- The Hokkaido prefectural government on Thursday decided at its novel coronavirus response headquarters meeting to request that residents of Asahikawa, Hokkaido, refrain from nonessential and nonurgent outings through Dec. 25, as infections are straining the northern city's medical system.
The prefectural government has already called for residents of Sapporo to refrain from going out.
In Asahikawa, there have been a series of cluster outbreaks confirmed at several medical institutions among other facilities. Upon receiving a request from the prefectural government, Ground Self-Defense Force nurses, among others, have been providing medical support in the city since Wednesday as part of a disaster dispatch.
"I hope residents in the city will act with a strong awareness to stop the further spread of infections," Asahikawa Mayor Masahito Nishikawa said at a press conference in response to the prefectural government's decision.
Also on Thursday, Hokkaido Gov. Naomichi Suzuki called for all Hokkaido residents to refrain from going out for year-end and New Year's activities, as well as not eating nor drinking with more than five people at home or other settings.
The prefectural government will also extend through Dec. 25 a request for restaurants serving alcohol in the Susukino entertainment district in Sapporo to refrain from operating after 10 p.m.
-- Sapporo mayor: Snow festival unlikely
Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto on Thursday expressed his view that it would be difficult to hold the Sapporo Snow Festival scheduled for January and February next year.
The decision will be finalized next week by the festival's planning committee comprising Sapporo city government officials and others. This will be the first time that a physical site has not been set up for the festival.
The Snow Festival, which started in 1950, has been held mainly at the city's Odori Park, according to officials.
In June, the committee announced that the festival would be held on a reduced scale, without featuring giant snow sculptures specially created for the event. It is considering online and other events as alternative measures.
"It is important not to extinguish the light of the snow festival," said Akimoto.
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