TOKYO (AP) – Japan on Wednesday extended the state of coronavirus emergency to seven more prefectures, affecting more than half of the population amid rising infections across the country.
Prime Minister Yoshide Suga also said that Japan will suspend fast-entry exceptions for business visitors or other people with residence permits, fully banning foreign visitors while the state of emergency is in place.
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 another seven prefectures in western and central Japan, enters into force on Thursday and lasts until February 7.
“The severe situation continues, but these measures are essential to turn the tide in the right direction,” Suga told a news conference, seeking public understanding.
He said he had put the seven prefectures in urban areas in a state of emergency to prevent the spread of infections in smaller cities, where medical systems are more vulnerable.
The government is demanding that bars and restaurants in Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Fukuoka, Aichi, Gifu and Tochigi prefectures close by 8pm, employers have 70% of their staff work from home, and residents in affected areas avoid going out. for non-essential purposes.
Suga has been criticized for slowing down, as coronavirus infections and reported deaths in the country have doubled in the last month to about 300,000 and 4,100, respectively. Both states of emergency were declared only after local leaders they asked him to do so.
Experts have warned that even emergency declarations, which are not mandatory and rely largely on voluntary cooperation, may be insufficient to significantly slow infections.
Unlike a previous seven-week emergency, Japan had in April and May last year, schools, gyms, theaters and shops will remain open.
Suga was criticized for not taking strong enough government action at the start of the outbreak. He limited most of his interventions to asking the public to take basic safety measures, such as wearing masks, washing hands and avoiding drinking and eating in groups, until mid-December, when he finally announced the suspension. a government-subsidized domestic tourism campaign.
Finally, Suga took action after calls from local leaders, while its supportive assessments were recorded in surveys, showing the public increasingly dissatisfied with the way it treated the virus. He was also set on fire because he attended a roast dinner, which had eight participants in mid-December.
Suga took office in mid-September and pledged to keep infections under control, while getting the economy back on track. He also promised to successfully host the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed from last year until next summer.
Despite the current increase in infections, Japan has reported far fewer infections than many countries of its size.
Japan has gone through previous increases in infections without blockage, but experts and officials warn that people are tired and become less cooperative than before.
In an attempt to enforce antivirus measures more effectively, Suga said he would call for a legal review in parliament next week to allow authorities to sanction business owners who defy official requests for coronavirus measures, while offering compensation to those who comply. The Suga government also intends to revise the infectious disease control law so that it can penalize patients who defy the requirements of self-isolation, hospitalization or cooperation with health authorities, Japanese media reports say.
Japan Medical Association President Toshio Nakagawa told a news conference on Wednesday that the country’s medical systems had collapsed, with regular daily treatment at many hospitals being compromised due to the growing burden of coronavirus patients.
“I am afraid that the fear of explosive infections, as in the US and Europe, may become a reality,” he said, urging people to cooperate and regain a sense of crisis and urgency.
Japan is already facing a possible collapse of the medical system, as coronavirus treatment is largely concentrated in public hospitals in a country where most hospitals are run privately and are not equipped for infectious diseases. Suga said the situation should be reviewed.
The government has provided financial support to hospitals that admit coronavirus patients, while struggling to secure more beds as infections grow.
Officials in Tokyo, who are facing a hospital bed crisis for coronavirus treatment, are considering turning three prefecture-run hospitals into centers for COVID-19 patients.
Japanese coronavirus measures were largely based on large-scale mask wearing, contact tracking, and other safety measures. 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 burden-relieving strategy for local public health officials.
Experts have expressed concern about cases of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus that has spread to the UK. About 30 cases of the new variant have been detected since the end of December. Another variant was detected in four people arriving from Brazil this week.
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