Japan to discuss extending the state of emergency: Tokyo infections are falling
Kanako Itamae and Sawako Utsumi
Modern Tokyo Times
The state of emergency is officially scheduled to end on May 6, after the Golden Week period. Thus, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will hold an important meeting about extending the current state of emergency.
Signs in Tokyo in the last ten days have been encouraging because coronavirus (Covid-19) infection numbers are coming down. On the other end, more deaths have been reported but this is based on the time lag and when people first entered the hospital. Therefore, despite the limitations of the state of emergency, it appears that the majority of people are listening.
In the last ten days, except one day, the number of infections in Tokyo has come down. With it now being the Golden Week period then all prefectures in Japan will be anxious that people heed all travel advice. However, with Tokyo announcing only 46 infections on April 30, the signs are promising even if a negative period may occur.
Infections in Tokyo and the natural inter-connection with the prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Saitama were problematic several weeks ago. This is based on a spike of infections that began in late March, to slightly more than the first two weeks of April.
Of course, other areas of Japan including Kyoto and Osaka – and Hokkaido for the second time – looked problematic. Despite this, 34 out of 47 prefectures still have less than ten deaths respectively. This is remarkable because the coronavirus entered Japan in the middle of January.
Hence, Abe is monitoring the situation and he notified Toshihiro Nikai, the Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party, about the possibility of extending the state of emergency. Thus, a committee of experts will discuss the extension of the state of emergency after analyzing recent infections.
It seems likely that the state of emergency will be extended. However, it remains to be seen if this will be a blanket continuation to cover all of Japan.
After all, the majority of Japan isn’t blighted by the coronavirus to the level of emergency level. Therefore, given how South Korea dealt with the crisis, it might be wise for Japan to follow the model enacted by this nation.
https://stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/ – Tokyo Metropolitan Government website for updates about the coronavirus crisis in Tokyo.
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