Japan government is holding a coronavirus task force meeting on Thursday to get experts’ approval on a plan to lift an ongoing state of emergency in most areas ahead of schedule, with the exception of Tokyo and several other high risk areas.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a month-long state of emergency on April 7 in Tokyo and six other urban prefectures and later expanded it to the whole country through May 31.
Abe’s government plans to lift the state of emergency in 39 of the country’s 47 prefectures, while keeping the measure in place for eight prefectures, including Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hokkaido.
The country has more than 16,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with about 680 deaths. The number of new cases has significantly decreased nationwide.
PM Abe will explain details at a news conference later in the day.
Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, in his opening remarks at the task force meeting, asked experts to provide basis for easing the measure, a well as its possible tightening, in case of a resurgence of the outbreak.
Earlier on Wednesday, the government has given the green light to a rapid antigen test to diagnose COVID-19 that delivers results faster than others.
The rapid antigen test kit can be used in a health centers and also by people in proximity to those who have already been infected with SARS-CoV-2.
The kit’s manufacturer, Fujirebio, has committed to supplying about 200,000 units per week, and could expand production if necessary.
Japanese authorities have said that this rapid test kit will be covered under the national health insurance.
Japan’s state of emergency is significantly less restrictive than measures seen in parts of Europe and the United States. It allows governors to urge people stay at home and call on businesses to stay shut. But officials cannot compel citizens to comply, and there are no punishments for those who fail to do so.
Measures have been implemented to try to ease the pressure, including sending coronavirus patients with mild symptoms to hotels for quarantine rather than keeping them in overcrowded hospitals.
Meanwhile, there are around 43,97,000 coronavirus confirmed cases in the world at the time of filing this report. Over 2,95,870 people have died due to the virus that was first reported in December 2019 in China, according to the Worldometers website.