The Tokyo metropolitan government has decided to ask department stores to halve the number of customers in store areas that sell food and other items, which are often crowded with people.
A state of emergency is to be newly declared in certain parts of the nation, and the ongoing state of emergency in others extended, as the novel coronavirus continues to spread. This has prompted Tokyo and its neighboring prefectures to intensify their efforts to contain the pandemic.
The metropolitan government held a meeting Tuesday night of its novel coronavirus response headquarters, following the decision by the central government to extend the state of emergency in Tokyo and five other prefectures. The Tokyo government decided to aim to halve the number of people shopping at department store food halls and shopping malls, compared with the number seen in early July before the current state of emergency began.
Specifically, it will ask these commercial facilities to limit entry or close some entrances, and officials from the metropolitan government will visit the stores to urge them to implement stronger measures. It will also ask people living in Tokyo to refrain from visiting crowded places.
These requests are to be made based on the Law on Special Measures for Pandemic Influenza and New Infectious Diseases Preparedness and Response.
"Recognizing that this is an emergency, we will support the efforts made by business sectors," Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike told reporters. She also encouraged Tokyoites to take their own steps, saying, "With willpower and effort, we can curb the flow of people."
The prefectural government of Chiba has decided on measures of its own. Prefecture-run high schools will suspend extracurricular activities at least two days a week, and they will not hold practice matches or conduct training with other schools or clubs.
"There have been many reports of cluster infections centered around students' extracurricular activities at high schools," Chiba Gov. Toshihito Kumagai told a press conference on Tuesday. "We decided that we should restrict [such activities]."
Ibaraki Prefecture is to be newly put under a state of emergency. Its government had declared its own state of emergency on Monday, one day before the central government decided to do so.
The Ibaraki government has requested hospitals in the prefecture to increase the number of beds for COVID-19 patients by a total of 136, while asking commercial facilities to reduce customers' entry to half the usual level.
It will further request local business operators to not let their customers use karaoke machines and drink alcoholic beverages throughout the prefecture, starting Aug. 20, the day the state of emergency is to begin.
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