A recent increase in COVID-19 cases could cause large parts of Japan to move back into emergencies, with authorities in Tokyo and Osaka looking at renewed curbs to stop the spread.
The new wave of infections is hampering preparations for the Tokyo Olympics, which begin in July, which have already been postponed due to the global coronavirus outbreak last year.
Japan this month placed Osaka, Tokyo and eight other prefectures under “quasi-emergencies” to control the spread of COVID-19, with shorter working hours for restaurants and bars and stronger calls for telecommunications.
But these measures have so far done little to reverse the trend, with Osaka reporting a record 1,220 cases on Sunday, two weeks after the restrictions went into effect because a mutant strain fueled the spread.
“The fruits of these measures must now appear,” Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura told reporters in comments posted online.
“Medical services are also in a dire state, and we have decided that we need an emergency. We need stronger measures, such as those that would stop the movement of people,” he said, adding that Japan’s third population province would address the formal request to the government on Tuesday.
In a TV survey of Asahi published on Monday, just over half of the respondents said that the “quasi-emergency” restrictions are not effective.
Tokyo is also considering a state of emergency request, Governor Yuriko Koike told reporters late Sunday, in a step backwards as Japan scrambled to bring the pandemic under control ahead of the Summer Olympics.
“It is crucial at the moment to act preventively,” Koike said. Tokyo reported 543 new cases on Sunday, the 18th day of seven-day increases.
Asked about possible requests from Osaka and Tokyo, Katsunobu Kato, chief cabinet secretary, the government’s biggest spokesman, said such calls should be considered “quickly”.
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