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TOKYO: A panel of medical experts has recommended that the Japanese government continue to ask the nation to follow social restrictions to combat the spread of Covid-19 (coronavirus) and believe that the state of emergency should be extended, government sources said. Saturday morning (May 2).
According to sources, the panel assessed that the emergency period should extend for at least a month beyond the current May 6 deadline, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is likely to formally announce the extension on Monday.
Japanese Economic Revitalization Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said at a press conference after the panel meeting that experts believe social restrictions should be maintained to prevent a further increase in coronavirus infections.
Nishimura, also a minister in charge of the government’s response to the pandemic, said experts warned that requests to stay in the home of the local and central government and other restrictions to curb the spread of the virus should not be alleviated.
He added that experts said the restrictions could not be eased until people further reduce contact with each other to a level where the spread of the virus is reduced to a certain level.
Experts, government sources said, have judged that the Japanese need to change their daily behavior “completely” so that the number of new infections decreases to a level where social restrictions can begin to lift.
Nishimura indicated that the relaxation of restrictions is considered possible in the future, but it can be done gradually and geographically, depending on the infection rates of the regions and other relevant factors, such as the adherence of citizens to requests for social distancing. and reduction. of human contact by 80 percent and displacement by 70 percent.
“If the behavior change request relaxes before we see a sufficient reduction in cases, chances are we will see an expansion phase again and the efforts made by each person will go down the drain,” said Nishimura.
The exact length of the extension of the state of emergency will be announced by Abe on Monday, after consulting an advisory panel.
Abe first declared a one-month state of emergency for Tokyo and six other prefectures on April 7, but this was expanded to cover the entire nation on April 16, in part to deter large numbers of people crossing the prefecture lines during the five days of Golden Holiday Week, which begins this weekend.
The government has expressed fear that vacationers will spread the virus to rural areas and seasonal vacation hot spots in Japan. Such a scenario would overwhelm an already tense healthcare system, and could be the start of a second wave of infections in Japan or the catalyst behind a large number of pooled infections that will be difficult to trace, government officials said.
Medical experts have underlined the continued need for the Japanese population, regardless of their geographical location, to avoid crowded and crowded places and places where they can come into close contact with others.
Along with social distancing measures, they have also exhorted the public about the importance of maintaining high standards of physical hygiene, including the absolute need to wash hands frequently and rigorously.
The panel’s recommendations and the possibility of Abe extending the state of national emergency next week come as the Ministry of Health and local authorities said Friday night that coronavirus cases in Japan increased by 261 to 14,566.
The figures included a significant resurgence of cases in Tokyo of 165 new COVID-19 infections, after registering fewer than 50 cases in the past two days.
The death toll nationwide from the virus has now risen to a total of 490, including from a cruise ship that was quarantined in Yokohama, near Tokyo, the latest figures showed.
In Tokyo, the epicenter of the Japan outbreak, the number of COVID-19 cases has risen to 4,317 confirmed infections, representing more than a third of all COVID-19 cases across the country, followed by the prefecture of Osaka with 1,639 infections.
Meanwhile, Kanagawa Prefecture has registered 1,038 infections, Saitama Prefecture 865 infections, Chiba Prefecture 841 cases, Hokkaido Prefecture 790 infections, while Hokkaido Prefecture has registered 790 cases of COVID-19, according to latest figures on Friday night.
The health ministry also said that there are currently a total of 332 patients who are considered seriously ill and are either on ventilators for respiratory assistance or have been admitted to intensive care units for medical treatment.
The ministry also said a total of 4,632 people have been expelled from hospitals after their symptoms improved, according to the latest figures. – Xinhua / Asian News Network
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