[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] With just over a month remaining until the opening of the Tokyo Olympics on the 23rd of next month, Japan's state of emergency for responding to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) will be lifted.
However, the government has decided to apply the "Priority Measures to Prevent the Spread," which corresponds to a quasi-state of emergency, in most regions.
On the 17th, at a COVID-19 task force meeting chaired by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, the Japanese government decided not to extend the state of emergency declared in 10 prefectures nationwide, including Tokyo, which was set to expire on the 20th, except for Okinawa Prefecture, where it will be extended.
In the seven regions including Tokyo where the state of emergency will be lifted, the Priority Measures will be applied until the 11th of next month. These Priority Measures were introduced by the Japanese government as a pre-state of emergency measure (for rapid infection increase) through a revision of the special law related to the novel coronavirus in February of this year to respond to explosive infection spread.
Unlike in the state of emergency areas, restaurants and other businesses cannot be requested to close, but local government heads can implement various measures to suppress population movement, such as requesting shortened business hours, based on legal grounds.
The number of new COVID-19 infections nationwide in Japan was recorded at 1,710 on the previous day (16th). This is the lowest number since March 17 of this year (1,532), the day before the decision to lift the second state of emergency in the metropolitan area, based on the same Wednesday standard.
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