Japan decrees a state of emergency due to coronavirus three months before the Tokyo Olympics

Three months afterTokyo Olympics, set for July 23, the government ofJapan declared a new state of emergency in that capital and other prefectures in order to control the fourth wave of thecoronavirus.

The measure, announced on Friday, will take effect between this Sunday, April 25 and next May 11, and will cover not only the area ofSuch, but alsoOsaka, Kioto and Hyogo, the authorities reported.

Certainly, the Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshihide Suga, took advantage of this Friday to confirm that the organizers remain firm in their mission to celebratethe quote under the five rings "in a safe way".

But he stated about the current situation: “If we do nothing, the increasing rate of infections will spread to the entire country, which is why we have decided to declare the emergency again.”

Next week the holiday period will begin (Golden Week), so the decision seeks to limit the movement of people. Likewise, it has been insisted that bars and restaurants maintain their closure at 8:00 p.m., and that they do not sell alcohol, something that is complemented by the request that people not drink on the streets and public spaces.

"To reduce the number of cases we have to restrict the possibilities of people coming into contact," said the Japanese premier, although the alert will not imply mandatory confinement of the population.

Thus, Suga called for the temporary closure of shopping malls, theme parks, cinemas and other similar facilities, while urging companies to promote teleworking and promising new subsidies to protect employment.

The government objective is to reduce travel by 70% through a “brief and powerful” state of emergency in the aforementioned prefectures.

The spread of highly contagious strains of COVID-19 has been detected in Japan, while hospitals are working under pressure due to the number of active cases.

According to estimates from the Japanese Ministry of Health, the British variant constitutes 80% percent of cases in Hyogo and Osaka, and about a third in the country's capital.

The situation threatens the realization of theTokyo Games, already postponed last year due to the pandemic. Experts have said health restrictions could be extended if circumstances do not improve.

This is the third state of emergency in an area that, according to international media, accounts for a quarter of the Japanese population and around a third of the country's economy.

Recently, the presence of the highly infectious strain known as "double mutant", identified in India, has even been confirmed in the Japanese archipelago.

To date, Japan has reported more than half a million cases and more than 9,800 deaths from coronavirus.

In recent days, the Asian nation has consistently exceeded the figure of 5,000 infections per day, a level not recorded since the beginning of the year.

For the moment, only thevaccine ofPfizer It has been approved for its application in Japanese territory, where it began to be administered last February.

Only 1% of the inhabitants have been inoculated so far with at least one dose of the drug.