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| Pedestrians in masks cross the street at a crosswalk in Tokyo, Japan. © Reuters = News 1 |
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported on the 26th, citing a senior government official, that the Japanese government has confirmed its policy to lift the emergency declaration of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) issued in six regions excluding the metropolitan area, including Tokyo, within this month.
According to reports, there are six areas subject to early cancellation: Osaka Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, Hyogo Prefecture, Aichi Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, and Fukuoka Prefecture.
Yomiuri said that the Japanese government has determined that the number of new infected people in all six regions has decreased sufficiently, and that the medical care system has improved enough to lift the emergency declaration.
In the case of Fukuoka, the outlook was strong that it would be excluded from the early cancellation, as the rate of use of beds was maintained at a high level.
Currently, the deadline for the declaration of emergency issued to a total of 10 regions is until the 7th of the following month. In areas where an emergency declaration has been issued, measures such as refraining from going out and reducing business hours, restricting the holding of events, and expanding telecommuting are required.
The Japanese government proposes an early lifting of the emergency declaration at an advisory committee composed of infectious disease experts to be held on the same day.
If experts determine that it is appropriate, Yasuto Nishimura, the Minister of Economic Regeneration, who is in charge of countermeasures against Corona 19, will report and inquire at the Steering Committee of the House of Representatives on this afternoon, and then the countermeasures headquarters will finally decide to release it.
Four metropolitan areas, including Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa, are expected to lift the declaration of emergency on the 7th of the following month, which is the deadline.
Recently, there are around 1,000 confirmed cases of Corona 19 in Japan, and the spread has decreased significantly compared to when there were up to 7,000 confirmed cases per day in the early and mid last month.