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TOKYO (Reuters): The Japanese capital of Tokyo raised its coronavirus alert to the highest level on Thursday (November 19) when its daily count of new infections rose to a record 534 and its governor called for maximum caution as the holiday season. end of the year. approaches.
The national tally also hit a new record of 2,259, according to broadcaster TBS.
But it is the spread of the virus in the metropolis of Tokyo, which hopes to host a rescheduled Olympics next year, that causes the greatest alarm.
“The number of coronavirus cases is increasing, so we are considering what steps will be necessary with the vision that infections could reach 1,000 cases per day,” said Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.
The city’s highest alert level on a scale of four indicates that “infections are spreading” compared to the previous second highest level of “infections are beginning to spread.”
With record new counts across Japan, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the government was seeking to tighten guidelines on eating out, such as limiting its subsidized “Go To Eat” initiative to groups of up to four.
But the authorities failed to announce a state of emergency or any drastic measure to restrict the movement of people, aware of the economic impact.
“I ask citizens once again to be vigilant in taking basic precautions,” Suga told reporters, emphasizing the risk of infections, particularly in restaurants.
“We ask that people participate in a quiet and masked dinner. I will do the same starting today,” he said.
Koike made similar requests, outlining new recommendations for dining out as the holiday season approaches. Those include meeting in small numbers, setting a time limit of about an hour and speaking quietly, he said.
Among the ways the virus spreads are the droplets that come out of the mouth.
A private survey on Thursday showed that nearly 90% of Japanese companies plan to skip the end-of-year holidays to prevent the spread of Covid-19, underscoring the pain the pandemic is inflicting on an already weak economy.
For medical readiness, a separate category, Tokyo kept its alert at the second highest level, indicating the need to increase hospital capacity, but one notch below critical levels.
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