| Governors of four metropolitan prefectures, including Tokyo and Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa, are speaking at a joint press conference on the 2nd. © AFP=News1 |
As the spread of Corona 19 in Japan continued, heads of major local governments, including Tokyo, demanded the government to issue an emergency declaration again.
According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, the governors of four metropolitan areas including Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa prefectures met with Yasto Nishimura’s Economic Regeneration Minister on the same day and asked to review the reissue of the declaration of emergency under the Special Measures Act on Corona 19. did.
The meeting lasted over three hours. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said at a joint press conference held after the talks, saying, “If you look at the number of confirmed patients and the status of the medical system, it is necessary to curb the movement immediately.”
Minister in charge of Nishimura said, “We shared the recognition that the declaration of an emergency is a difficult situation to come into view. We will accept and review it at the national level.”
The reason that the heads of major local governments personally requested an emergency issuance is because the spread of Corona 19 has not shown signs of decline since last November.
In the case of Tokyo, the number of new confirmed cases, which averaged around 150 per week at the end of October last year, exceeded 500 in the middle of last month. On the 31st of the same month, 1337 new infections per day recorded the first 1,000.
There are also concerns that the medical system may soon be paralyzed as the number of confirmed cases increases rapidly. As of 2 days, the number of hospitalized patients is 2781, and the rate of use of beds (3500) for Corona 19 patients reaches 79%.
Accordingly, there are criticisms in the medical community that “the medical system is at the level of failure” and that the emergency should be declared again.
However, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said, “You should also listen to an expert’s opinion even in a situation where the spread of the infection is serious. I will carefully review it.’
The Japanese government has been consistent with a negative attitude toward the reissue of the emergency declaration. It is because there is concern that it will bring a profound economic impact, as at the time of its announcement in April-May last year, and there are also concerns that it may interfere with the candidates ahead of the entrance exam.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued an emergency declaration on 7 prefectures including Tokyo on April 7, and expanded the target to 47 prefectures nationwide on the 16th of the same month. The government extended the deadline until May 6 and lifted it entirely on the 25th of the same month.
In the midst of this, 3059 new confirmed cases occurred across Japan on the 2nd. Accordingly, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in Japan increased to 242,768. The death toll increased by 31 to 3585.
In the capital city of Tokyo, 814 people were newly confirmed. The number of severely ill patients was 94, an increase of 6 from the previous day, a new high since the emergency declaration was lifted in May. There were 2781 inpatients and 3387 home caregivers, all of which were the highest since the outbreak of Corona 19.
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