Tokyo Metropolitan Government Elevates COVID-19 Alert Level to Highest Stage

▲ Yuriko Koike, Governor of Tokyo Metropolitan Government [Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has raised its alert level to the highest stage as the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) rapidly increases.

According to NHK on the 15th, Tokyo raised the alert level, which is set based on expert evaluations, to the most serious of the four levels, "considered to be spreading infection."

The "Monitoring Meeting" held from 1 p.m. that day was attended by experts and Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. The meeting reported that the weekly average number of new confirmed cases up to the 13th was 168.4, about 1.5 times that of the previous week. It was also confirmed that the number of patients with unknown infection routes increased to 77.3, nearly double compared to the previous week.

Initially, Tokyo identified nighttime entertainment districts, which were the epicenter after the state of emergency was lifted, as the main infection routes, but recently the spread has extended to theaters, daycare centers, and nursing facilities. Cluster infections are also on the rise.

Governor Koike stated, "We will seriously address how to prevent the spread of infection while repeatedly appealing to each citizen."

Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases at the U.S. military base in Okinawa Prefecture has also surged, reaching 136 as of this day. This is close to the total number of infected residents in Okinawa (148).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.