Emergency declared for Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Thursday declared a second, albeit less comprehensive, state of emergency in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures to contain the fast-spreading coronavirus, which has stretched parts of the nation’s health care system to breaking point.
“I’m highly alarmed by the severe situation nationwide recently … as the number of patients has been extremely high,” Suga said at a government task force meeting, adding the Go To Travel domestic tourism program will be suspended while the state of emergency is in effect.
The restrictions will enter into force Friday and remain in place until at least Feb. 7. They will not be lifted until the affected prefectures see a significant reduction in benchmarks such as hospital occupancy rates and positivity rates.
One threshold would be daily cases declining to 500 per day in Tokyo, said Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister handling the government’s coronavirus response.
The prime minister was forced to play his last trump card — a situation his administration had desperately tried to avoid to ensure a swift economic recovery — after seeing new COVID-19 cases stubbornly refuse to go down and hospital beds rapidly fill up to as much as 88% in the capital. Tokyo logged 2,447 cases Thursday, shattering the daily record. The nationwide cases are projected to rise over 7,000.
by Satoshi Sugiyama (japantimes.co.jp)
TANIKO Madagascar 