Japan Set to Expand Emergency as Authorities Call for Restraint
Japanese ministers pleaded for people to restrict their movements during the daytime, with the country set to expand the area under the coronavirus state of emergency beyond the Tokyo area.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he was considering a request from three prefectures in the Kansai region in western Japan to declare a state of emergency. Several other regions have either asked for an emergency or are considering doing so. Together with Tokyo and three nearby prefectures, that represents more than half the nation’s economy.
Although the emergency is intended to send a strong message in a country that can’t legally enforce the type of lockdowns seen in other nations, the move is yet to have the same level of impact on people’s behavior seen during the first declaration last spring.
“The number of people moving about has not gone down,” Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister in charge of Japan’s virus response, wrote on Twitter Monday evening, the last day of a long weekend in the country. “Please refrain from going out not just during the night, but at daytime also.”
@nishy03
#緊急事態宣言 後の三連休最終日ですが人出が減っていません。夜だけでなく昼の外出も控えてください。気温も湿度も低く、感染拡大しやすい状況が続きます。一層の注意をお願いします。昼も含めた不要不急の外出、県をまたぐ移動を含めた不要不急の移動の自粛、テレワーク7割を是非ともお願いします。2:51 PM · Jan 11, 2021
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