Japan considers new emergency protocols as COVID-19 cases surge

Japan on Saturday announced that it is considering new emergency protocols as coronavirus cases continue to surge.

Economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said that a decision will be made after government officials meet with leading health experts in the country, according to Reuters.

“The national government and the three governors shared the view that the situation in the Tokyo area is getting more severe, such that an emergency declaration may be necessary,” Nishimura said in a recent meeting with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, Reuters reported.

Under the proposed measure, venues that serve alcohol will close at 7 p.m. and restaurants and karaoke bars will close at 8 p.m. Japan had previously allowed voluntary closures of businesses and restricted travel in and out of the country in place of implementing a strict nationwide shutdown, according to the news outlet.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has been hesitant to reestablish a call for a national state of emergency, which was originally introduced at the start of the pandemic in April.

Hospitalizations in Japan have increased as a result of the most recent coronavirus case surge and an infection control manager of a local hospital in Tokyo, Fumie Sakamoto, expects it to get worse.

“The Japanese government has not done a great deal to control the infection,” Sakamoto told Reuters. “I would expect the [infection] numbers will get bigger in the coming days, and the emergency declaration should have come earlier, probably during December or November.”

Japan has reported a total of 239,068 coronavirus cases and 3,342 virus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins.