Tokyo News: Tokyo and border linked prefectures request Covid-19 State of Emergency
Kanako Mita and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis in Japan is worse now than at any other time. Despite this, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is heavily focused on the economic angle rather than declaring a state of emergency.
In truth, the Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike is equally focused on the economic and Olympic angle. However, with increasing infections and strains on the health care system in Tokyo, it is apparent that Koike can no longer ignore the reality on the ground.
Thus Koike is finally requesting a state of emergency even if this is many weeks too late for many people. Similarly, the border linked prefectural leaders of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Saitama are also requesting a regional state of emergency.
Koike uttered, “We made a request to the central government regarding the declaration of a state of emergency. In light of the number of people who have tested positive and the current state of the medical-care system, we made the request as it is necessary to immediately curb the movement of people.”
The government representative at the meeting mulled closing restaurants down at 8 pm and requesting people not to go out unless necessary at the same time of day. In other words, a tame response by the central government and more time wasted during this important period in containing the crisis.
Yesterday, the ratio of new infections in Tokyo was 21.3 percent. This is shockingly high. Hence, the government of Suga can’t simply wish away the problem – or wait for the vaccine angle to help in the fight against coronavirus.
After all, thousands of more people have died because of inaction and a surreal response to the coronavirus crisis. This relates to supporting the tourist and eating out campaigns even when infections began to grow alarmingly compared with the past. Therefore, it is high time for Suga to wake up and take responsibility rather than his limited approach.
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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