Osaka news: Osaka might request an extension of the State of Emergency
Sawako Uchida and Kanako Mita
Modern Tokyo Times
The official coronavirus (Covid-19) State of Emergency covering Hyogo, Kyoto, Tokyo, and Osaka isn’t appearing effective to all areas covered. Thus, Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura of Osaka is mulling to ask for an extension because of the ongoing crisis in Osaka.
Yoshimura is worried about daily infections and the severe hospital crisis in Osaka. Hence, despite daily infections being less than 1,000 today, this is mainly based on reduced testing during the Golden Week period – rather than the effects of the State of Emergency.
NHK reports, “Hospital capacity for seriously ill patients exceeds 99 percent” in Osaka.
Thus, with the medical situation being critical and deaths increasing from coronavirus in Osaka, it seems too early to lift the State of Emergency covering this city by May 11. If Yoshimura requests an extension, then Hyogo prefecture will likely mull over the same issue.
Lee Jay Walker says, “The Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is distracted by holding the Olympics and Paralympics later this year. Indeed the number of PCR tests in Tokyo is shockingly low given the size of the population. Also, Koike promised to increase testing dramatically late last year. However, this now appears to have been a soundbite for the media.”
It seems unlikely that the May 11 deadline for lifting the State of Emergency will be sufficient. This is based on the spread of new variants, the numbers of daily deaths announced, and many parts of Japan struggling to contain the coronavirus. Therefore, it seems logical to extend the State of Emergency.
Yet, logic seems elusive at the moment within the corridors of power in Tokyo. Hence, it remains to be seen how Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will respond.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210504_21/
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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