Ever since Tokyo fully reopened, allowing all businesses including live music and nightlife venues to resume trading, the number of Covid-19 coronavirus cases has slowly been creeping up. Coronavirus cases in Tokyo first spiked on June 24, with 55 confirmed cases, which at that time was the highest number recorded in a single day since May 2. On Friday July 3, the capital reported a confirmed 124 new coronavirus cases.
Despite the increase in cases, the national government will not declare another state of emergency. In Japan, a state of emergency is not a lockdown, but a strong request for businesses to close and for residents to stay home. According to The Japan Times, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that a state of emergency will only be re-declared ‘in a worst-case scenario’.
Japan Today reports that the higher number of coronavirus cases is partly due to increased testing, with about 70 percent of new cases involving people in their 20s and 30s. The Japan Times also adds that new cases are leading back to nightlife districts in Shinjuku and Ikebukuro.
On July 1, the Tokyo government replaced its Tokyo Alert system, which used a numerical standard, with a new holistic measure that relies on testing and capacity in the healthcare system to make decisions regarding potential business closures. Even though the numbers of confirmed cases seem to be increasing, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said that she is confident the city hospitals are prepared for this rising trend.
At the time of writing, there are 6,399 cases in Tokyo and 18,874 cases in Japan.
Get live updates on the Covid-19 coronavirus situation in Tokyo and Japan here.
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