Tokyo News: Tokyo more reluctant than Aichi, Hyogo, Kyoto, and Osaka in lifting Covid-19 emergency
Chika Mori and Sawako Utsumi
Modern Tokyo Times
The government State of Emergency concerning the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis officially lifts on March 7. However, the prefectures of Aichi, Hyogo, Kyoto, and Osaka have requested the lifting of the State of Emergency by the end of February because of declining infections, hospitalizations, and other areas of concern.
However, the Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, is more reluctant to lift the State of Emergency. Koike’s main concern is that the coronavirus is still killing more elderly people than in the past. Therefore, with infections still being problematic among the elderly (highest collective risk group), Koike is reluctant to end the State of Emergency until the official ending date.
It is known that Koike will discuss the crisis with the leaders of the three surrounding prefectures. This relates to Chiba, Kanagawa, and Saitama.
Koike also hopes to hold the Tokyo Olympics later in the year. Hence, Koike is faced with even greater caution because she seeks to protect the most vulnerable in Tokyo, maintain economic activity, and hold the Tokyo Olympics later in the year. Therefore, her caution is understandable given this fine balancing act because it is known that the Japanese government wants the Olympics to go ahead.
Hideaki Omura, the Governor of Aichi, uttered, “New cases of infection have remained in double-digit levels for days. (The state of emergency) should be lifted at the end of this month as we expect the number of hospitalized patients to fall even further.”
It is understood that Gifu is following the same logic as Aichi, Kyoto, Hyogo, and Osaka.
Overall, infections have declined dramatically in recent weeks throughout Japan. Despite this, differences remain within the local governments about the correct time to end the State of Emergency.
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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