Many people are still suffering from the aftereffects of COVID-19, such as coughing, breathing difficulties and fatigue, four years since the first novel coronavirus infection was confirmed in Japan in January 2020.
As partitions came down, restaurateurs hopes rose for their establishments to be bustling again with hungry and thirsty customers after long struggling with pandemic restrictions.
The growing number of elderly COVID-19 patients who need hospital care has overloaded health care services at areas that are short-handed because infected staff members have missed work.