But on Monday, Suga appeared at a high-stack restaurant in Tokyo’s Ginza district, attending a gathering of seven guests over the age of 70, ignoring the guidelines.
“There was enough social distance with the other participants, but I seriously regret inviting public suspicion,” Suga told reporters at the prime minister’s residence on Wednesday.
“We are taking precautions, but with over 1,000,000 new infections confirmed in the last week, the infection is at a high level. We are taking it very seriously. Experts point out that group meals are more risky,” Suga said. Suga said.
Tokyo’s metropolitan government has advised limiting the number of diners at restaurants to five and urged senior citizens in particular to follow the guidelines.
His presence at the dinner was criticized by opposition legislators. Tetsuro Fukuyama, secretary general of Japan’s Constitutional Democratic Party, said “he would have restrained himself as the infection spread. He must act as a role model for the nation.”
Speaking to Nippon TV, Suga said he was late for dinner and intended to greet and depart the guests, but stayed for about 40 minutes.
The Go To scheme offers up to 50% discount on transport, hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions and shopping to encourage domestic travel during the epidemic recession.
“I decided to do my utmost to keep the infection low and reduce the burden on the medical system so that everyone in Japan could have a peaceful New Year,” Suga said at the time.
Japan, along with its neighbor South Korea, has seen an increase in Kovid-19 cases and hospitalizations with cold winter temperatures. Winter was always expected to bring an increase in cases, as cold weather sent people into poor air circulation indoors. The chances of making a coronavirus spread more easily.
In Japan, cases have been steadily rising since the beginning of last month. On November 1, just over 600 cases were reported. Twenty days later there were more than 2500 daily infections.
As many as 2,988 Kovid-19 cases were reported in the country on Wednesday, killing 51 people, bringing the total to 187,815 across the country.
The number of patients in critical illness and intensive care remains at an all-time high since the onset of the epidemic, up from 26 in the previous day.
Large urban centers such as the capital Tokyo are reporting high levels of infections and hospital admissions are on the rise. On Wednesday, Tokyo reported that 1,960 patients are under medical care and 69 are in critical condition in intensive care.
Despite being one of the first countries to be affected by the virus, Japan has largely avoided the kind of strict lockdown seen elsewhere in the world, instead of intensive border control, contact tracing and social distance, an experiment that has been largely successful.
But citizens are also spending time under minor restrictions – East Asia was the world’s first region to deal with the coronavirus, a precaution was taken in early January this year – the risk of fatigue remains.
“Please don’t get used to the coronavirus,” Toshiyo Nakagawa, president of the Japan Medical Association, said in a briefing last month. “Please don’t underestimate the coronavirus.”
Neighboring South Korea has also been battling its biggest spike in Kovid-19 cases and health officials have warned citizens to take controls seriously, as the country is likely to enter its first possible lockdown.
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