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Japan struggles to contain virus before Olympics

China Daily Global | Updated: 2021-03-05 13:52

Members from the Tokyo organizing committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games hold a five-party meeting with their International Olympic Committee counterparts and a government representative via video conference in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday. [Photo/Xinhua]

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is expected to announce a two-week extension of the second state of emergency on Friday in Tokyo and the adjacent prefectures of Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama.

Their governors are concerned that new cases are not declining fast enough to safely lift the state of emergency that is set to expire on Sunday, despite a steady decline since Japan's third and largest wave peaked in early January.

The state of emergency was issued on Jan 7 due to the surge in new cases and hospitals being packed with COVID-19 patients.

The declaration was lifted on Monday in Osaka and other prefectures, where cases had declined steadily.

Experts warn that lifting the state of emergency too early could result in a fourth wave of infections as early as May.

Many businesses in the Tokyo region are struggling under the state of emergency, so Suga had initially been reluctant to declare another extension as he was eager to re-energize Japan's economy.

But he shifted his stance amid growing public pressure to bring the pandemic under control once and for all, especially with the Tokyo Olympics set to start in July and a lower house election due to be held in October.

More than 80 percent of respondents to a weekend Nikkei-TV Tokyo poll had said they wanted the government to extend the state of emergency.

Japan, which was left behind in the race to get vaccines for its citizens, started vaccinating its medical workers last month, using the vaccine developed by Pfizer. Full-fledged vaccination drives are not expected to start for those aged 65 and older until next month and for the general public until summer.

A medical worker in her 60s died after she was vaccinated. Japanese Health Minister Norihisa Tamura said the case will be examined by experts.

Tamura said this may have been an accidental case, but it needs to be fully examined by a panel of experts. The government will continue to gather information on suspected adverse events related to COVID-19 vaccines and will release the data to the public.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Seiko Hashimoto, Olympics organizing committee president, said they will decide later this month whether to allow spectators from overseas, and limits on domestic fans will be determined in April.

An agreement will be made by March 25 following a five-party meeting including the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government.

In an effort to strengthen border controls to keep new coronavirus variants at bay, Japan will require its citizens and resident foreigners returning from another 13 countries to go through additional quarantine measures, which will be effective Friday.

Returnees from the 13 countries where new virus variants are feared to be spreading will be asked to stand by at a designated facility after arrival for a retest on the third day after entering the country.

The new requirement will be added to current measures of turning in negative testing results within 72 hours of departure and taking a coronavirus test upon arrival.

Japan currently bans all entries of nonresident foreigners except for those given approval under "special exceptional circumstances".

 

 

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