Japan to place Tokyo under state of emergency lasting through Olympics

Japan is to place its capital Tokyo under a state of emergency, which will last through the upcoming Olympic games.

There are fears coronavirus could surge during the event, and at a meeting with experts on Thursday morning government officials proposed a plan to start the state of emergency from next Monday.

It would run until August 22, with the delayed Olympic games running from July 23 to August 8.

International spectators have already been banned from attending the events, and the new state of emergency suggests locals may also be barred.

The upcoming emergency will be the fourth for Tokyo since the pandemic began and is a last-minute change of plan made late on Wednesday after a meeting with experts who warned strongly against the government’s soft approach.

A main focus of the emergency is a request for bars, restaurants, and karaoke parlors serving alcohol to close.

A ban on serving alcohol is a key step to tone down Olympic-related festivities and keep people from drinking and partying. Tokyo residents are expected to face stay-home requests and watch the Games on TV from home.

“How to stop people enjoying the Olympics from going out for drinks is the main issue,” Health Minister Norihisa Tamura said.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach arrived in Japan on Thursday where he is due to take part in a three-day online quarantine meeting on the spectator issue with the local organising committee, representatives of the Japanese government, and the Tokyo municipality.

Bach must self-isolate for three days in the IOC’s five-star hotel in the Japanese capital before heading to Hiroshima, where heavy rain is threatening flooding.

Tokyo is currently under less-stringent measures that focus on shortened hours for bars and restaurants but have proven less effective at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is to formally announce the emergency plans later on Thursday.

Tokyo reported 920 new cases on Wednesday, up from 714 last week and its highest since 1,010 on May 13. The figure is in line with experts’ earlier estimate that daily cases in Tokyo could hit 1,000 before the Games and could spike into thousands in August.

Kazuhiro Tateta, a Toho University infectious diseases expert, noted an earlier state of emergency in the spring came too late to prevent hospitals in Osaka from overflowing with patients and said another delay should not be allowed.

Ryuji Wakita, director-general of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, noted that two-thirds of Japan’s cases are from the Tokyo region, and “our concern is the spread of the infections to neighboring areas.”

Experts also noted cases among younger, unvaccinated people are rising as Japan’s inoculation drive loses steam due to supply uncertainty.

Just 15% of Japanese are fully vaccinated, low compared to 47.4% in the United States and almost 50% in Britain. Nationwide, Japan has had about 810,000 infections and nearly 14,900 deaths.

“The infections are in their expansion phase and everyone in this country must firmly understand the seriousness of it,” Dr. Shigeru Omi, a top government medical adviser, told reporters.

He urged authorities to quickly take tough measures ahead of the Olympics with summer vacations approaching. “The period from July to September is the most critical time for Japan’s COVID-19 measures,” Omi said.