Emergency from tonight in Japan..Closed at 8 o’clock. 630,000 won per day for restaurants

An emergency will be issued from 0 o’clock on the 8th in Japan, which is showing an explosive spread with more than 6000 new corona19 confirmed daily.

Prime Minister Suga went through an expert advisory meeting on the 7th and held a press conference at 6 pm in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, and Saitama. ) Is expected to declare an emergency. The period is from 0 o’clock on the 8th to the 7th of the following month for one month.

When an emergency is issued, the head of each local government can formally request a business restriction, etc. from the facilities in the province. For restaurants and cafes, business hours will be shortened to 8:00 pm. Alcohol is only available until 7pm.

Citizens are advised to refrain from going out after 8 pm. The operation of theaters and amusement parks is limited until 8 pm. The capacity for events, etc. is limited to 50% of the available number of people. Companies are asked to reduce the number of attendees by 70% through telecommuting.

The Japanese government believes that the success or failure of this emergency declaration depends on the reduction of restaurant business hours. In the case of Tokyo, 70% of the infected are patients whose infection route is unknown, because experts analyzed that most of them were estimated to have been infected at restaurants.

Therefore, how much’cooperation fund’ to allow companies to actively participate in short-running sales became an important issue. As a result of discussions within the government until late on the 6th, the cooperation fund given to businesses that shortened their business hours during an emergency was set at a maximum of 60,000 yen (630,000 won) per business per day. This is an increase of 20,000 yen from 40,000 yen (420,000 won) per day at the time of the declaration of an emergency in April-May.

The price of 60,000 yen a day is not small, but there are complaints about the uniform application regardless of the size of the store. The owner of a large beer pub in Tokyo with 17 people, including part-time jobs, told TV Asahi, “A large company like ours can’t afford fixed costs with tens of thousands of yen a day.”

The emergency is first applied to the metropolitan area for one month, but depending on the situation, there is a possibility that the period may be extended or extended nationwide. In fact, last year, the Japanese government issued an emergency situation in seven regions including Tokyo on April 7th and expanded it to the whole country on the 16th of the same month. On May 4th, the emergency period was extended to May 31st, and then phased out by region.

Experts have analyzed that it is difficult to expect a noticeable drop in the number of infected people after a month of emergency issuance. According to Yomiuri, a professor at Kyoto University Nishiura Hiroshi (西浦博) predicted that the number of confirmed patients in Tokyo would drop to less than 100 until February 25, as a result of simulating the current situation under the premise that the same effect as when the emergency was issued last year.

Satoshi Kamayachi, a member of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, a member of the Japanese Medical Association’s executive director, said, “It is common perception that it will not be possible to suppress only eating and drinking (complaining of the infection situation).” “You have to watch it for about 2 months.”

Tokyo = Correspondent Lee Young-hee [email protected]