TOKYO (AP) – Japan on Wednesday extended a state of emergency by coronavirus to seven more prefectures, affecting more than half the population in an increase in infections across the country.
Prime Minister Yoshide Suga also said Japan will suspend fast-entry exceptions for business visitors or others with a residence permit, banning foreign visitors altogether while maintaining the state of emergency.
Suga’s announcement comes less than a week after he declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and three nearby prefectures. The new declaration, which adds up to seven other prefectures in western and central Japan, goes into effect on Thursday and runs until February 7.
“The dire situation continues, but these measures are essential to improve the tide,” Suga said at a news conference, bowing as he sought understanding from the public.
He said he put the seven prefectures of urban areas in a state of emergency to prevent infections from spreading to smaller cities where medical systems are more vulnerable.
The government is calling on bars and restaurants in Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Fukuoka, Aichi, Gifu and Tochigi prefectures to close at 8pm, for employers to have 70% of staff working from home and for residents of the affected areas avoid leaving the city because they are not essential. purposes.
Suga has been criticized for delaying its performance, as the country’s coronavirus infections and deaths have doubled in the last month, to about 300,000 and 4,100, respectively. The two states of emergency were only declared after local leaders asked him to do so.
Experts have warned that even emergency declarations, which are non-binding and largely dependent on voluntary cooperation, may be insufficient to significantly curb infections.
Unlike Japan’s first seven weeks of emergencies in April and May last year, schools, gyms, theaters and shops will remain open.
Suga has faced criticism for failing to take strong enough government action before the outbreak. For the most part, he limited his interventions to asking the public to take basic safety measures, such as putting on masks, washing their hands and avoiding drinking and eating in groups, until mid-December, when he finally announced the suspension. of a government-subsidized domestic tourism campaign.
Suga finally took action after calls from local leaders, while his support scores were perceived in polls showing the public increasingly dissatisfied with his handling of the virus. It was also the subject of fire for attending a coveted meat dinner that featured eight participants in mid-December.
Suga took office in mid-September and pledged to keep infections under control while recovering the economy. He also pledged to successfully hold the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed from last year until this coming summer.
Despite the current increase in infections, Japan has recorded far fewer infections than many countries of its size.
Japan overcame previous rises in unblocked infections, but experts and officials warn that people are tired and less and less cooperative than before.
In an attempt to enforce antivirus measures more effectively, Suga has said he will seek a legal review in parliament next week to allow authorities to penalize business owners who challenge official requests for coronavirus measures. while they legally provide compensation to those who comply. The Suga government also plans to revise the infectious disease control law so that it can penalize patients who defy their own isolation requirements, hospitalization or cooperation with health authorities, according to Japanese media reports.
The president of the Japanese Medical Association, Toshio Nakagawa, said Wednesday at a news conference that the country’s medical systems have collapsed, with regular daily treatment in many hospitals compromised due to the growing burden of patients with coronavirus.
“I fear that fear of explosive infections like in the United States and Europe may become a reality,” he said, urging people to cooperate and regain their sense of crisis and urgency.
Japan is already facing a possible collapse of the medical system because coronavirus treatment is largely concentrated in public hospitals in a country where most hospitals are privately run and not equipped for disease. infectious. Suga said the situation should be reviewed.
The government has provided financial support to hospitals that admit coronavirus patients, while struggling to get more beds as infections increase.
Tokyo officials, who are facing a hospital bed crisis for coronavirus treatment, are considering turning three prefecture-run hospitals into COVID-19 patient centers.
Japanese coronavirus measures have relied heavily on widespread use of masks, contact location, and other safety measures. But the number of new cases in the current outbreak has made it impossible to track contacts, prompting Tokyo and neighboring prefectures to announce a reduction in the strategy to ease the burden on local public health officials.
Experts have also expressed concern over cases of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus that has spread to Britain. Since the end of December, about 30 cases of the new variant have been detected. Another variant was also detected this week in four people arriving from Brazil.
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