Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks at a meeting of the government task force on novel coronavirus countermeasures on Feb. 26. (Kotaro Ebara)
The government confirmed it will lift the COVID-19 state of emergency early for six prefectures, but the four Tokyo-area prefectures will have to wait until the March 7 deadline.
“We will lift the state of emergency for six prefectures as of Feb. 28,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said at a government task force meeting on the evening of Feb. 26.
Suga explained that while the situation at medical institutions continued to be tight, it had improved in comparison with the most difficult periods of the pandemic.
Yasutoshi Nishimura, the state minister in charge of economic revitalization and the central government’s handling of the novel coronavirus pandemic, speaks in the Diet on Feb. 12. (Kotaro Ebara)
Yasutoshi Nishimura, the government’s point man in dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic, apologized after a magazine revealed that several of his overworked aides have been replaced.
One of his aides worked for more than 150 consecutive days during the COVID-19 crisis.
Nishimura confirmed the heavy workload of his aides at the Lower House Budget Committee meeting on Feb. 12 in response to questions by Hiroyuki Moriyama of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
But they were not looking for a night on the town.
They were on the hunt for businesses going against the government’s request to close their doors early, issued in a bid to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The punishment for remaining open late is being publicly named as a noncompliant business.
The 20 officials managed to visually inspect 2,027 restaurants and bars in Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro, Shinbashi, Kichijoji and Tachikawa districts. Ultimately, they decided that 1,927, or 95 percent, had followed the government’s request to close by 8 p.m.
But with tens of thousands of eateries in the capital, some Tokyo officials have expressed doubts that the government can determine the noncompliant businesses and disclose their names fairly.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, left, attends a news conference on Dec. 25 along with Shigeru Omi, the chairman of the government panel of experts dealing with the COVID-19 health crisis. (Kotaro Ebara)
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga called on the nation to spend the year-end period quietly and refrain from traditional social activities as records for new COVID-19 cases become a daily occurrence.
“If nothing is done, we will not be able to avoid a further spread of infections,” Suga said Dec. 25 at his first news conference devoted to dealing with the health crisis since becoming prime minister in September. “I would like to ask the general public to spend a quiet year-end and New Year period.”