Japan Extends COVID-19 State of Emergency Again in Tokyo and 5 Other Metropolitan Areas

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] The Japanese government has once again pulled out the emergency declaration card to respond to the explosive spread of COVID-19. However, despite the enforcement of the emergency declaration in some areas, the spread of infection has become more severe, raising controversy over the appropriateness of this measure.

On the 17th, the Japanese government held a COVID-19 task force meeting chaired by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and decided to extend the emergency declaration, which was initially declared until the end of this month, in six metropolitan areas including Tokyo, Osaka, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, and Okinawa until August 12.

Additionally, in seven regions currently under quasi-emergency measures called "Priority Measures to Prevent Spread" (Priority Measures)?Shizuoka, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Kyoto, Hyogo, and Fukuoka?the government decided to newly apply emergency declaration-level quarantine measures from July 20 to August 12.

Along with this, the Priority Measures in six regions including Hokkaido will be extended from the end of this month to August 12, and ten regions including Miyagi, where new infections are rapidly increasing, will be added to the Priority Measures target list.

As a result, the number of regions under emergency declaration will increase from six to thirteen, and those under Priority Measures will rise from thirteen to sixteen.

Among Japan's 47 prefectures (metropolitan governments), about 60%, or 29 areas, will be designated as special measures zones to suppress the spread of COVID-19.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Japan’s emergency declaration is the highest-level quarantine measure declared by the Prime Minister, the administrative head, under a special law to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

In the declared areas, governors of metropolitan governments can request people to refrain from going out and can also request or order restaurants to shorten business hours or close temporarily, as well as impose restrictions on alcohol sales. Businesses that comply receive certain compensation.

Priority Measures were introduced in February this year as a pre-stage response before the emergency declaration.

In areas where Priority Measures apply, governors can subdivide their jurisdiction and request restaurants to shorten business hours, among other measures.

However, with the highly contagious Delta variant becoming the main source of infection, and repeated extensions of emergency declarations and special measures, there are concerns that accumulated fatigue is making it difficult to expect the effect of preventing infection spread by suppressing population movement.

This is evident in the trend of new confirmed cases in Tokyo, which has faced two extensions since the fourth emergency declaration was issued on June 12.

New confirmed cases in Tokyo were 502 on the day the fourth emergency declaration took effect (Monday), but on the same day of the week, July 16, the number surged to 2,962, about six times higher in just over a month.

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

During the emergency declaration period when the Tokyo Olympics (July 23?August 8) were held, new infections did not decrease but rather showed an explosive increase.

Looking at the nationwide situation, the average daily number of new confirmed cases over the past week until the 16th reached about 17,000, the largest increase since the first infection was confirmed in January last year.

The reason why the special measures such as emergency declarations issued by the Japanese government have not been effective in suppressing the spread of COVID-19 is that they rely entirely on voluntary cooperation from each party without including compulsory measures such as city lockdowns or bans on gatherings.

Requests for cooperation based on special measures are increasingly being ignored as the emergency declaration period lengthens.

Even in areas where special measures apply, many individuals do not refrain from going out, and an increasing number of restaurants ignore government requests to shorten business hours and stop alcohol sales.

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

The Mainichi Shimbun reported on the same day that it directly checked about 500 restaurants in downtown Tokyo earlier this month and found that more than 40% continued operating despite ignoring the request to shorten business hours until 8 p.m.

The Japanese government has added to its basic response policy a punitive measure allowing local governments to request entry restrictions for large commercial facilities over 1,000 square meters and food sections of department stores in areas under emergency declarations and Priority Measures, and to impose fines if these requests are violated.

Yasutoshi Nishimura, Minister in charge of COVID-19 measures, said at an expert subcommittee meeting on the same day that as a basic quarantine measure, they will ensure strict compliance with entry restrictions in department stores and appeal to people to reduce their shopping frequency by about half.

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