Japan mulls another Covid-19 related State of Emergency
Kanako Mita and Sawako Utsumi
Modern Tokyo Times
Another recent coronavirus (Covid-19) upsurge in parts of the country is happening again in Japan. Indeed, it seems like an endless situation whereby the government is slow to respond under Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
Unlike under the leadership of Shinzo Abe, it is apparent that Suga’s administration loathes providing economic support to the general public. Hence, the minimal State of Emergency in Japan revolves around eateries, drinking places, and entertainment districts closing earlier. Also, the emphasis is on the self-economic sacrifice of workers in more unfortunate circumstances because of government neglect in helping people throughout the crisis.
Osaka is currently reaching daily highs of over 1,000 coronavirus infections a day. While Yuriko Koike, the Governor of Tokyo, who promised over 60,000 daily PCR tests, is failing massively to reach this figure. Thus, it appears that Koike is distracted by the Olympics and declaring media soundbites with little substance.
NHK reports, “Osaka officials on Tuesday asked the government to declare a state of emergency. The number of coronavirus infections in the western Japanese prefecture has been on a sharp rise in recent weeks partly due to more contagious variants.”
Since the ending of the last State of Emergency earlier this year the situation remains problematic. Indeed, in the last month, over 14 regions have hit new daily coronavirus highs. This concerns Aomori, Ehime, Fukushima, Hyogo, Ishikawa, Miyagi, Nara, Niigata, Okinawa, Osaka, Tokushima, Tottori, Wakayama, and Yamagata. Therefore, the State of Emergency and quasi different emergencies declared are providing no long-term solutions.
If anything, people from major cities like Osaka and Tokyo are spreading the coronavirus crisis to other parts of Japan once easing occurs. Therefore, the Suga administration needs to tighten any future State of Emergency and to provide economic support – just like Abe – to the general public.
Also, with certain sectors being hindered more than others, then a greater target is needed to support these companies to survive.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210421_04/
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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