Japan declares state of emergency for Tokyo area as COVID-19 cases surge
Japan declared a limited state of emergency of one-month emergency would run from Friday to Feb. 7 in the capital Tokyo, Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures, on Thursday to stop the spread of the coronavirus and to resist calls from certain medical staff because they would cause economic losses and thus curb wider containment.
The Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan is trying to limit damage to the world’s third-largest economy while striving to defeat the virus once and for all, as it looks forward to postponing the summer Olympics.This time, schools are not being closed.
Some medical experts said they were worried that the government’s limited restriction plan might not be enough. Emergency measures could take at least two months to bring infections to manageable levels.
Japan recorded daily infections at more than 7,000 for the first time on Thursday.
LIMITING HOURS :1) Residents to be refrained from non-urgent outings. 2) Limiting crowds at sports and other big events to 5,000 people. 3) Restaurants and bars to be closed by 8 p.m.
Human resources business fears this would be serious problem and drive up suicides.
Emergency measures could take at least two months to bring infections to manageable levels.
Analysts say that the new state of emergency may trigger an economic contraction in the first quarter, which is contrary to the 2.1% annualized expansion expected by Reuters polls last month.
