Tokyo Covid-19 past weekly average reaches a new high: Other prefectures also
Sawako Utsumi and Sawako Uchida
Modern Tokyo Times
The surreal nature of the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis continues in Japan. Hence, instead of focusing on the coronavirus crisis, the national government is still focused on its internal tourist campaign. However, various parts of Japan including Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo, and Sapporo are involved in current – or possible future temporary suspensions from the tourist campaign because of local government concerns.
Meanwhile, the reality on the ground outside of the central government, is that Tokyo reached a weekly high average of new infections. Thus, last week, the average was just over 500 new infections per day in Tokyo. On top of this, a new daily high of 621 was reached last week.
Osaka is also witnessing another upsurge and the same applies to Asahikawa and Sapporo in Hokkaido. Other prefectures witnessing new recent highs include Gifu, Iwate, Kochi, Nagano, Saitama, and Yamagata. Hence, the daily Japanese new infection rate recently reached over 3,000 for the first time. Similarly, Fukushima and Kyoto are worried about new infections and the same applies to other prefectures including Hiroshima, Kanagawa, and Ibaraki.
However, political inertia and the obsession of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on the tourist campaign means Japan is at its worst coronavirus level since the virus entered this nation in January. Thus the health care system seems a secondary concern for Suga. Instead, his main priority is the economic angle.
Yet, internal dissent within the ruling party will increase alongside a media backlash if deaths and new infections keep on rising. Hence, Suga may be forced to change his coronavirus policies based on reality on the ground. Therefore, it is expected that the tourist campaign confusion will usher in a change of tact, concerning Tokyo and other areas facing increasing new infections and health care strains.
https://stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/ – Tokyo Metropolitan Government website for updates about the coronavirus crisis in Tokyo.
https://toyokeizai.net/sp/visual/tko/covid19/en.html – Japan and Tokyo Covid-19 news with more analysis
https://covid19japan.com/ – Japan regional coronavirus statistics
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ World coronavirus statistics
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