#16,217
With COVID cases down 90% over the past month in Japan - and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga poised to step down after barely a year in office - Japan’s government announced today that their 6-month-long State of Emergency over COVID will end in Tokyo and 18 other prefectures later this week.
A link to an English Language report from Kyoto News:KYODO NEWS - 1 hour ago - 19:14
Tokyo - The Japanese government on Tuesday formally decided to lift the COVID-19 state of emergency covering Tokyo and 18 other prefectures, as well as the quasi-state of emergency in other areas, as infections have declined from their peak.
When the measures end on Thursday, it will be the first time since April 4 that none of the country's 47 prefectures has been under a state of emergency or quasi-state of emergency.
Restrictions will be eased over the next month - with local Prefectures controlling the timing - but the hope is society can return to a more `normal' existence, and revitalize their economy.
Of course, this was the plan in Singapore up until this past weekend (see Singapore Reinstates Some Societal Restrictions As COVID Hospitalizations Surge), after cases jumped 20-fold (see chart below) in less than a month.
In mid-July, the UK abolished most of their restrictions - and so far at least - while their cases haven't exploded, they continue to average > 30,000 new cases per day (see chart below). Whether they can keep cases at this level (or lower) through the winter is unknown.
