The Government of Japan announced a state of emergency in four new prefectures as the number of Covid-19 pandemic continues to increase.
Tokyo has been under its fourth state of emergency since July 12, ahead of the Olympics, which began last Friday despite widespread public opposition and concern that they could worsen the pandemic.
Japan prime minister Yoshihide Suga on Saturday morning said that certain restrictions will be placed in Chiba, Kanagawa, Osaka and Saitama, departments that are very close to Tokyo, where the Olympic Games are being held.
The prime minister asked the inhabitants of these prefectures not to make unnecessary trips, in order to prevent more positive cases from being registered.
Restaurants and bars that sell alcoholic beverages or that have karaoke must close temporarily, while those that do not offer these services will have to close at 8:00 p.m.
Suga believes that the increase in infections in Japan has nothing to do with the fact that athletes from all over the world are in Tokyo participating in the Olympic Games.
“New cases of coronavirus are spreading in the Tokyo metropolitan area and the Kansai region (west) at an unprecedented rate.” Suga said.
“I think there is no relationship between the arrival of foreign athletes for competitions and the epidemic situation.” he added.
The Tokyo Mayor’s Office on the other side, reported that 3,300 cases of Covid-19 were registered this Friday. Concern increased because on Thursday a record was broken with 3,865 cases registered.
For the first time since the pandemic began, the barrier of 10,000 positives was exceeded in less than 24 hours.
More than 904 thousand cases and more than 15 thousand deaths have been recorded. So far, about 35 million people have been vaccinated, which is equivalent to 27.9 percent of the population.
