JAPAN TIMES



 

Japan is considering lifting the COVID-19 quasi-state of emergency for 18 prefectures upon its expiration next week as the number of infections in those areas has been decreasing, a government source said Monday.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government plans to make a final decision Wednesday on the possible lifting ahead of the emergency’s expiration on March 21, the source said.

Officials hope the downward trend of daily coronavirus infection tallies will be enough for Tokyo, Osaka and 16 other prefectures to meet the government’s criteria for lifting the emergency.

However, the government will keep a close eye on the number of infections in such areas as some prefectures might ask for an extension.
On Monday, a total of 32,471 new infections were reported in Japan, a drop of around 4,600 from a week earlier.

Of those, the Tokyo metropolitan government confirmed 4,836, falling below 5,000 for the first time since Jan. 17.

The Kishida government eased the criteria last week, citing an increase in the number of vaccinated people, the low risk of severe illness posed by the omicron variant and the need for fully resuming economic activities to boost the economy.

The new criteria will allow the government to lift the emergency if the burden on health care system seems poised to decrease despite new infections remaining at high levels.

Under the new criteria, the emergency can also be lifted when new infections are on a downtrend even if the hospital bed occupancy rate for COVID-19 patients is 50% or higher.

As of Sunday, new infections were on a decline in all but three prefectures — Aomori, Kagawa and Kumamoto. Hospital bed occupancy exceeded 50% in Chiba, Kanagawa, Aichi, Osaka and Hyogo prefectures, but the rates are on a downtrend, according to the Cabinet Secretariat.

Kishida said Monday at a ruling Liberal Democratic Party meeting the number of infected people in the 18 prefectures “has decreased significantly” and that the government “would like to move the social and economic activities forward as much as possible.”

Kishida said later on Monday during a TV program that the government will come up with specific measures to ease restrictions that will include using proofs of vaccination and testing to move social activities.

On Tuesday, tourism minister Tetsuo Saito said at a news conference that the government will consider a resumption of the Go To Travel tourism subsidy program after assessing the infection situations.

“We need to ensure the safety and a sense of security for both travelers and their destinations,” Saito said, without referring to a possible timing of the resumption.

The quasi-emergency, in place in 18 of Japan’s 47 prefectures, puts restrictions on the business hours of restaurants and bars and requests that the public refrain from nonessential travel between prefectures.

The 18 prefectures currently under the quasi-emergency measures are: Hokkaido, Aomori, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Ishikawa, Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Kagawa and Kumamoto.