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TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Monday (January 4) that the government would consider declaring a state of emergency for the Greater Tokyo metropolitan area as coronavirus cases escalate and strain the country’s medical system.
The possible declaration of an emergency would mark a reversal, as Suga has resisted any such drastic steps to restrict economic activity.
Japan registered a record 4,520 new cases on December 31, prompting the capital Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures to request an emergency declaration from the national government. The region now accounts for about half of new cases nationwide.
READ: Japan to consider a new COVID-19 emergency declaration
“Even during the three days of the New Year holidays, the cases were not recorded in the Tokyo metropolitan area,” Suga said at a press conference to mark the start of 2021. “We felt a stronger message was needed.” .
He did not say when the government would make a decision or what restrictions would follow. The first state of emergency, declared last spring, lasted more than a month, closing schools and nonessential businesses.
Suga repeated, however, that many of the new cases with unknown origins were likely related to restaurants, and that the latest request from the government that restaurants in the Tokyo area close at 8 p.m., instead of 10 p.m., it should be effective.
When a third wave of infections hit Japan last month, the government halted a popular subsidized travel program for two weeks until January 11. Suga said that resuming the “Go To Travel” program would be difficult in a state of emergency.
READ: Comment: How A Slogan Shaped Japan’s COVID-19 Response, For The Better
Toshihiro Nagahama, an economist at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, estimated that a month-long suspension of non-urgent spending by consumers in the Greater Tokyo area would reduce gross domestic product by 2.8 trillion yen (27 thousand million), or a 0.5 percent annualized rate.
“The loss of GDP could put 147,000 people out of work,” he wrote in a note.
Japanese stocks fell on the first trading day of the year, in reaction to news of the possible state of emergency.
Although Japan has relied on voluntary closures rather than the kind of rigid lockdown measures seen in other parts of the world, Suga said a bill would be submitted to the next session of parliament to tighten the state’s restrictions. emergency, including penalties.
Although the case numbers in Japan pale in comparison to many parts of Europe and America, Suga is challenged to host the Olympics in Tokyo this summer after the pandemic caused the Games’ first delay in 2020.
Japan said last month that it would temporarily ban non-resident foreign nationals from entering the country after the detection of the highly infectious new variant of the coronavirus.
Suga repeated the government’s promise to host the Games on Monday, saying his goal is to start vaccinating residents by the end of February.
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