A buyer used a hand sanitizer station in the Ameya Yokocho market in the Ueno district of Tokyo on December 30.
Photographer: Noriko Hayashi / Bloomberg
Photographer: Noriko Hayashi / Bloomberg
The second state of emergency in Japan is expected to last a month, but public health experts have already expressed doubts that four weeks is enough time to adequately slow down the coronavirus, which is spreading at an alarming rate.
As residents are increasingly struggling with virus fatigue and there is no legal framework to enforce compliance, the country may struggle to turn down the trend of infections quickly, experts say. Japan has been reporting new daily infection records for at least two days in the past week, with numbers accelerating in the capital, Tokyo. On Friday, Tokyo reported 2,392 confirmed cases, the second highest so far after Thursday’s record.
“I’m not sure if the situation can get better within a month,” Hitoshi Oshitani, a professor of virology at Tohoku University and a member of the expert panel advising the government, told Bloomberg News. “It is certainly much more difficult to control the current situation compared to the outbreak in the summer.”
People are eating at a restaurant in the Ameya Yokocho Market in Tokyo on December 30th.
Photographer: Noriko Hayashi / Bloomberg
Japan this time introduced a more limited emergency, mainly aimed at shortening restaurant hours and encouraging remote work. Movie theaters, gyms, karaoke salons and theme parks, which were closed during the emergency last spring, will remain open with fewer hours, while large events will still be allowed with a lower capacity.
While the measures apply for the time being only to the capital of Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures, the Osaka regional authorities will also ask the government to extend the emergency to the country’s second largest metropolitan area. Osaka’s neighboring prefectures will follow, limiting activity in more of the country’s economy.
Regions under emergencies will have to appear from “Phase 4”, the highest government name for the pandemic, to lift the status quo. The stages look at factors such as medical capacity, the number of patients, the test positivity and the weekly increase in new infections. Experts will constantly examine the data to determine which areas meet which stages, they said.
Emergency landing
Cases increased in the four areas under Japan’s second state of emergency
Source: Tokyo Metropolitan Government; Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama Prefectural Governments
Read more: What does Tokyo’s second state of emergency mean?
Shigeru Omi, the head of the panel of experts advising the government, which said earlier this week that it would be ‘almost impossible’ for Japan to emerge from the emergency within a month, changed its tone when he told the press Prime Minister Yoshihide informed. Suck Thursday.
“It’s not very easy,” Omi said, “but I believe it is possible to reduce the infections to a stage 3 level within a month if everyone does their best.” Omi said people should follow the proposed measures to stay home and not eat and drink during the night, but it was a difficult task to keep the younger people out of such places, where the virus spreads through the pandemic has.
Upcoming legal changes, which will include the ability to fine businesses that refuse closure requests as well as formalizing payments for cooperation would also be necessary, he added. The government will seek to amend related legislation when the diet resumes on 18 January.
Yoshihide Suga on January 7th.
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota / Bloomberg
The emergency that Japan imposed last spring began with a declaration for seven prefectures. It was later expanded nationwide and extended in duration before being phased out by the end of May.
Japan, which received early praise for its ability to curb the virus without strict barriers, has raised challenges with its strategy of “living with the virus” as winter approaches. Business began to increase nationwide in November and has increased over the past week, especially in the regions near Tokyo.
Closed stores in Tokyo’s Akihabara Mall earlier in April.
Photographer: Soichiro Koriyama / Bloomberg
Tokyo failure
The country has struggled to gain public cooperation in the same way as in the spring. Officials have been frustrated that concerns about the virus have abated, while many pubs and restaurants, which have been pushed to the point over the past year, are reluctant to cooperate on requests to close.
The serious situation in Tokyo is likely due to the failure to impose stricter measures earlier in December, Oshitani said. Areas, including Osaka and Hokkaido, have called for restaurants to close as early as 9pm or close completely, as the month is a high season for drinking and eating, with social groups and workplaces holding traditional year-end parties.
“In December, Tokyo was unable to impose aggressive measures – which is why we are likely to see the increasing trend, especially in the Tokyo metropolitan area,” Oshitani said. “It was important to introduce more aggressive measures in December due to the festive season.”
Read more: The scientist who saved Japan once struggled with a new virus outbreak
Although Tokyo authorities asked that people should avoid these celebrations, the effect is limited. Data from the virus strike force showed that while footfall in entertainment districts in Osaka and Hokkaido dropped sharply after requests to close, traffic in Tokyo actually increased.
Oshitani said he was hopeful that people would have a quiet social time in Japan in January and February, but that they would heed calls to stay home and slow down the spread of the virus.
“I believe we can still manage to control the situation,” he said. “It all depends on people’s behavior change.”
– With the help of Gearoid Reidy
(Updates with Tokyo case numbers and Osaka’s emergency request)