Japan Surpasses 500,000 Confirmed Cases... Expansion of 'Priority Measures' Areas

On the 7th, pedestrians wearing masks were walking on the streets of a busy district in Osaka. [Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] As the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in Japan surpassed 500,000, the Japanese government has strengthened quarantine measures in the capital Tokyo and other areas.

According to NHK, on the afternoon of the 9th, the Japanese government decided at the COVID-19 task force meeting chaired by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to apply the "Priority Measures to Prevent the Spread" to three additional prefectures: Tokyo, Kyoto, and Okinawa. This expands the priority measures currently in place in three regions?Osaka, Hyogo, and Miyagi?to a total of six regions.

The priority measures will be applied to the three newly added regions starting from the 12th. The application period is until the 5th of next month for Kyoto and Okinawa, and until the 11th for Tokyo.

The governors of the prefectures where the priority measures are applied will request restaurants to shorten their business hours to 8 p.m. Businesses complying with this will receive cooperation funds according to their scale.

Japan's daily new COVID-19 cases have exceeded 3,000 for two consecutive days as of the previous day. According to Kyodo News, Japan's cumulative COVID-19 cases surpassed 500,000 on the 9th.

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